Folkton Parish information from Bulmers' 1892.

FOLKTON:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1892.

Wapentake and Petty Sessional Division of Dickering - County Council Electorial Division of Sherburn - Poor Law Union, County Court District, and Rural Deanery of Scarborough - Archdeaconry of the East Riding - Diocese of York.

This parish lies on the south side of the Hertford river which here forms the boundary between the North and East Ridings. It includes the townships of Folkton and Flixton, comprising 5,247 acres of land and 247 acres of water surface. The population in 1891 was 442. The northern part of the parish towards the river lies low and consists chiefly of Carr land, and on the high ground, towards the south, the soil is wold chalk. The subsoil is flint, chalk sand, and gravel, and the principal crops are oats, barley, turnips, rape, and potatoes. The gross estimated rental of the parish is £4,745, and the rateable value, £4,257.

The township of Folkton, which includes the hamlets of East and West Flotmanby, contains 2,540 acres of land; the population and rateable value are returned in the parish. The Misses Tate, Manor House, Folkton and Westwood, Scarborough, are the sole landowners and ladies of the manor.

The village is situated in a pleasant valley on the northern side of the Wolds, nine miles south-west of Scarborough, three north-west of Hunmanby, and two from Cayton, the nearest railway station. The church, which is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is an ancient stone structure consisting of chancel, nave, and western tower, containing three bells. It has been rebuilt at different periods, and has evidently been of larger dimensions at some former time. The roof of the nave is covered with lead, that of the chancel with red tiles. The whitewashed beams of the latter remind one of a loft or attic rather than the sanctuary of a church - a thought that ill accords with the sentiments of King David in the 25th Psalm, "I have loved, 0 Lord, the beauty of Thy house and the place where Thy glory dwelleth." The Tate family are buried in the chancel, and on the wall is a fine monument to the memory of the Rev. Wm. Minithorpe, M.A., who died in 1774, and another to the Rev. Jno. Minithorpe, who died in 1816. On the north side of the nave may be seen an ancient Norman doorway; the chancel arch is of later date and pointed, and a similar one opens from the tower into the nave. The font is round and very old, and a few fragments of ancient stained glass remain in the north window. The registers date from 1691. The living is &a rectory in the gift of Col. Osbaldeston Mitford, and held by the Rev. John Farrar Wilkinson, M.A. In the Liber Regis it is valued at £15, and is now worth £300 nett, including 712 acres of glebe, with residence.

The National school (mixed) which stands midway between Folkton and Flixton is a brick building, erected by the late J. B. Tate, Esq., and other landowners, and has accommodation for 80 children. There is an average attendance of 67.

FLOTMANBY (The by or town of Flotmam, a Norse name equivalent to seaman), anciently a village and chapelry, now consists of two farms known as East Flotmanby and West Flotmanby. The former belongs to the exors. of Thos. Rivis, Esq., and the latter to John Woodall Woodall, Esq., M.A., J.P., Scarborough.

FLIXTON township comprises 2,500 acres of land, owned chiefly by Lord Londesborough, who is also lord of the manor, and Messrs. I'Anson and Thos. Taylor. Its rateable value and population are returned in the parish. The soil is various, - wold chalk on the hills, and peat and sand on the carrs and low grounds. The village, which is larger than Folkton, stands about one mile west of that place. Ganton is the nearest railway station. In the reign of King Athelstan, Acchorne, who was lord of Flixton, built a hospital for an alderman and fourteen brothers and sisters, for the preservation of persons travelling that way, that they might not be destroyed by the wolves and other wild beasts then abounding in the neighbourhood. It was restored and confirmed in 1447, by the name of Carman's Spital, but in 1535 the poor were robbed of their inheritance by a crowned monster who never spared man in his anger nor woman in his lust. The hospital stood just beyond the limits of Flixton, in the neighbouring township of Staxton, and the site is now occupied by a farmhouse.

There are chapels in the village belonging to the Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists, built in 1841. The former is in the Sherburn circuit, and the latter in that of Filey.

[Description(s) from Bulmer's History and Directory of East Yorkshire (1892)]

Directories

• Transcript of the entry for the Post Office, professions and trades in Bulmer's Directory of 1892.

Scan, OCR and html by Colin Hinson. Checking and correction by Peter Nelson.