Kirklington Parish information from Bulmers' 1890.

KIRKLINGTON:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1890.

Wapentake and Petty Sessional Division of Hallikeld - County Court District of Ripon - Rural Deanery of East Catterick - Archdeaconry of Richmond - Diocese of Ripon.

This parish is situated on the west side of Leeming Lane, between Burneston and Wath, and includes the townships of Kirklington-with-Upsland, Howgrave, Sutton-Howgrave, and East Tanfield, containing 4,164 acres, of which, 289 acres are in the Wapentake of Allertonshire. The parish is purely rural, and the inhabitants, who number 422, are chiefly employed in agriculture. In the first named township there are 1,919 acres under assessment, of which, the rateable value is £2,905. The population in 1881 was 249. The soil is a light gravel, suitable for the growth of turnips and barley. The landowners are Mrs. Sarah Prior Wandesforde (lady of the manor), of Castle Comer, Kilkenny; the trustees of the late William Thompson; Miss Milburn, Sowerby, Thirsk; T. J. Other, Esq., Sutton Howgrave; Henry Rob, Esq., Catton Hall; and the North Eastern Railway Co., who have 1 mile 150 yards of line in the township.

The manor of Kirklington was formerly held by a family named Muster, from whom it passed by marriage to John Wandesforde, of Westwick, who died A.D. 1395. The Wandesfordes were subsequently ennobled, but the title terminated with John, Earl of Wandesforde, whose daughter and sole heir, Lady Frances-Susannah Anne Wandesforde, in 1769, married John Butler, 17th Earl of Ormonde. Charles Harward Butler, the fourth son, succeeded to the maternal estates, and assumed, by royal license, the surnames of Clarke-Southwell-Wandesforde, in addition to Butler. He married first, Sarah, daughter of the 2nd Earl of Carrick, and secondly, Lucy, widow of the 3rd Earl of Carrick, but had issue by the first wife only, three sons and a daughter. The latter married the Rev. John Prior (who died in 1867), and succeeded to the Kirklington property on the death of her nephew in 1881. She thereupon assumed, by royal license, the additional surname and arms of Wandesforde.

The Village is pleasantly situated around a large green ornamented with sycamores, seven miles N. of Ripon, and one mile from Sinderby railway station. The Old Hall or Manor House, the occasional residence of Mrs. Prior-Wandesforde, is a plain rough stone building, partially covered with ivy. It was formerly of much larger dimensions and surrounded by a moat, which is still traceable. The Church (St. Michael) is a large handsome edifice, wreathed with ivy on its north and east sides, and presenting in its architecture the styles of the three different periods, Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular. The tower belongs to the latter period, and the nave to the Early English. The church was thoroughly restored in 1858, when several improvements were effected. The old low roofs of the chancel and nave gave place to the present ones of higher pitch, and the chancel arch was rebuilt in loftier and more elegant proportions to agree with those of the aisles. In the chancel are tablets to the Daltons of Sleninford Hall, and one to Philip Bendelowes, of Howgrave, who died in 1796, and was the last male heir of that ancient family. At the east end of the south aisle is the Wandesforde chapel, formerly enclosed by a parclose screen. Here are numerous memorials of the dead, the oldest of which are the effigies of a knight and lady in recumbent position, with hands in the attitude of prayer. The knight is encased in chain armour, and his shield is charged with a lion rampant, which identifies him as one of the Mowbrays, the early lords of Kirklington. Another monument is that of Christopher Wandesford, an elaborate piece of work, embellished with the family arms, and a Latin inscription stating that Sir Christopher died A.D. 1590; and on the walls are brasses to the memory of another Sir Christopher, who died in 1686, and to Baron Wandisford, who died in 1707. A brass on the floor commemorates members of the family buried here in 1654, 1717, 1721, and 1728. The tower contains a clock and three bells. There are 300 sittings, whereof, 200 are free and unappropriated. The living is a rectory, with 93 acres of glebe attached, and new worth £850. It is in the patronage of Mrs. S. Prior Wandesforde, and held by the Rev. G. A. Ward Huddart, M.A. and LL.D.

There are in the village a National School and a small Chapel belonging to the Primitive Methodists.

Near the village is Camp Field, where there still remain the entrenchments of a camp, consisting of a dyke, about 20 feet high, probably an ancient British fortification.

Upsland hamlet, containing 280 acres, occupies an eminence one mile W.S.W. of Kirklington.

CHARITIES. - In 1718, Richard Storey bequeathed to the poor of Kirklington the rent of Ings Close (3 acres 1 rood 7 perches) which now lets for £8 a year; and in 1782, 18 acres of land at Sykes was purchased with several benefactions amounting to £280. The rent, £34, is given in coals to the poor at Christmas.

HOWGRAVE is a small township containing 280 acres and 39 inhabitants. It is situated about half-a-mile from the parish church, and consists of two farms called Berry Hills. Formerly it was a constablewick or graveship comprising Sutton, Holme, Howe, and Nunwick. Its rateable value is £381.

SUTTON HOWGRAVE is a township containing about 730 acres, chiefly the property of J. G. Oddy, Esq., Addingham; Thomas John Other, yeoman, Howgrave Hall; Thomas Leech, yeoman, Sutton-Howgrave; and Richard Whitelock, Esq., Masham. Its rateable value, according to the last assessment, is £1,043; and the number of its inhabitants, 85. The monks of Fountains Abbey had two oxgangs of land here with a toft, croft, and pasture for four oxen on the common. The village of Sutton-Howgrave is small, and distant about two miles from Kirklington. Here are a Church Mission Room and a small Wesleyan Chapel. The poor of these two townships have the rents of three small cottages in the village amounting to £10 10s. a year. They were purchased with £50 left by Philip Bendelow.

EAST TANFIELD township contains 1,237 acres, the greater portion of which belongs to Thomas Nussey, Esq., Headingley, who purchased it from the trustees of the Marquis of Ailesbury, in 1886, for £31,000. The township comprises three farms. Rateable value, £1,320.

[Description(s) from Bulmer's History and Directory of North Yorkshire (1890)]

Directories

• Transcript of the entry for the Post Office, professions and trades in Bulmer's Directory of 1890.

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