Part 15

The castle was built round a central courtyard, and in 1650 three sides of the square were pulled down, only the south side being left standing. A fire which broke out about 120 years ago completed the destruction of the interior of this remaining side, so that what exists to-day is a mere shell.

This block of buildings contained the Great Chamber or Dining Hall, the Drawing-Chamber, and the Chapel. The last was afterwards used as the Parish Church. On its ceiling was painted the Percy motto:—

=Esperance en Dieu ma Comforte.=

Above the chapel was a small chamber which is thus described by a visitor in the reign of Henry VIII.:—

One thing I likid exceedingly yn one of the Towers, that was a Study, caullid Paradise; where was a Closet in the midle, of 8 squares latised aboute, and at the Toppe of every square was a Desk ledgid to set Bookes on Cofers withyn them, and these semid as yoinid hard to the Toppe of the Closet; and yet by pulling, one or al wold cum downe briste higthe in rabettes,[56] and serve for Deskes to lay Bokes on.

Footnote 56:

_Rabbets_ are grooves cut in the edge of a piece of wood.

Much interesting information as to life in a mediæval castle can be gleaned from what is known as _The Northumberland Household Book_.[57] The original manuscript of this was prepared in 1512 by the orders of Henry the Magnificent, and gives a detailed account of the estimated household expenditure for a year and of the regulations of the household.

Footnote 57:

A reprint was published in 1905 by A. Brown & Sons, Ltd.

From this book we learn that the staff at Wressle Castle consisted of 166 persons, of whom eleven were priests, and that ‘the Hole Expensys ... for oone hole Yere amounted to DCCCCXXXIIJ_L._ VJ_S._ VIIJ_D._’ It is strange to find that beds, hangings, and furniture were moved from one residence to another when the Earl travelled, and that there is no mention of glass among the table requisites, vessels for eating and drinking being solely of wood or pewter.

For travelling and for hunting the Earl’s stables contained _vj Gentle Hors_, _iiij Palfreis_ (one for my Lady and three for my Lady’s gentlewomen), _iij Naggs_, _iij Sumpter Hors_ and _Mail Hors_ (for carrying the bed, coffers, and coats of mail), vij Hors for the use of servants, and _vij Charriot-hors to drawe in the Charriot_.

* * * * *

Very precise rules are given for the serving of meals. Breakfast was served at eight, and dinner at eleven, each morning. Among the rules to be observed for the serving of meals are these:—

First when they go to Cover, Hee [the Usher] must go before them through the Hall, crying ‘By your leaves Gentlemen, stand by.’

If any unworthy Fellow do unmannerly sett himself down before his Betters, he must take him up and place him lower.

Let the best fashioned and apparrelled Servants attend above the Salte, the Rest belowe.

If one Servant have occasion to speak to another about Service att the Table, let him whisper, for noyse is uncivil.

What my Lord and Lady had to eat for breakfast is shown in the following extracts:—

BRAIKFASTIS OF FLESCH DAYS DAYLY thorowte the Yere.

BRAIKFASTIS for my Lorde and my Lady.

FURST a Loof of Brede in Trenchors ij Manchetts[58] j Quart of Bere a Quart of Wyne Half a Chyne of Mutton or ells a Chyne of Beif boilid.

Footnote 58:

Small loaves of white bread.

During Lent no breakfast was allowed on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, but on the other days of the week there were provided in place of ‘meitt’:—

ij Pecys of Saltfisch vj Baconn’d Herryng iiij White Herryng or a Dysche of Sproits.

What the Earl’s children had for breakfast in the nursery is similarly shown:—

BRAIKFASTS for the Nurcy for my Lady Margaret and Mr. Yngram Percy.

ITEM a Manchet j Quarte of Bere and iij Muton Bonys boilid.

Or, during Lent:—

ITEM a Manchet a Quarte of Bere a Dysch of Butter a Pece of Saltfisch a Dysch of Sproits or iij White Herryng.

Among the household necessaries to be provided are:—_Wheet_, _Malte_, _Beefis_, _Muttuns_, _Gascoin Wyne_, _Poorks_, _Veelis_, _Lambes_, _Stokfish_, _Salt Fishe_, _Whyt Hering_, _Rede Herynge_, _Sproits_, _Salmon_, _Saltt Elis_, _Fieggs_, _Great Rasins_, _Hopps for Brewynge_, _Hony_, _Oile_, _Waxe_, _Weik for Lightys_, _Bay Saltte_, _White Saltte_, _Parishe Candell_, _Vinacre_, _Lynnon Clothe_, _Brass Pottis_, _Mustarde_, _Stone Crusis_, _Rughe Pewter Vessel_, and _All Manner of Spices_—_Piper_, _Rasyns of Corens_, _Prones_, _Gynger_, _Clovvez_, _Sugour_, _Allmonds_, _Daytts_, _Nuttmuggs_, _Rice_, _Safferon_, and _Coumfetts_—_See Cholys_, _Char Cholis_, _Fagoots_, and _Greet Woode_, ‘bicause Colys will not byrne withowte Wodd.’

For the great feasts during the year xx _Swannys_ were to be provided from the Earl’s Carr at Arram, in addition to xxix _Does_ and xx _Bukks_ from his Parks at Leconfield and elsewhere. So also for my Lord’s table were to be bought _Capons_, _Geysse_, _Chekyns_, _Pegions_ (‘iij for j_d._’), _Cunys_ (‘ij_d._ a pece’), _Pluvers_ (j_d._ a pece’), _Mallardes_, _Woodcokes_, _Seegulls_ (‘j_d._ a pece so they be good and in season’), _Styntes_ (‘vj for j_d._’), _Quaylles_, _Snypes_, _Pertryges_, _Redeshankes_, _Dottrells_, _Bustardes_ and _Larkys_ (‘xij for ij_d._’). _Hearonsewys_,[59] _Bytters_,[59] _Fesauntes_ and _Kyrlewes_ were to be paid for at the rate of ‘xij_d._ a pece’; but the most expensive dish was one of _Cranys_, which cost ‘xvj_d._ a pece.’

Footnote 59:

Herons and Bitterns are known to-day in the East Riding as ‘herrin-sews’ and ‘buttherbumps.’

What high junketings there must have been at Wressle Castle in the days of ‘Henry the Magnificent’! Did the feasters afterwards pay for their over-indulgence in rich food? An answer may perhaps be supplied from the purchase of ‘xxx Saks of Charcoill for Stilling of Bottells of Waters’—_Water of Roses_, _Water of Harts Tonge_, _Water of Parcelly_, _Water of Walnott Leeffs_, _Water of Prymeroses_, _Water of Cowslops_, _Water of Tandelyon_, _Water of Marygolds_ and many others—‘all worth,’ each penitent would doubtless declare, ‘xxj_s._ a bottell.’

* * * * *

In chapter XV. mention was made of the _Percy Tomb_ in the chancel of Beverley Minster. The magnificent canopy of this was built in memory of Eleanor Fitz Alan, wife of Henry Percy of Alnwick, who died in 1328. Henry Percy, fourth Earl of Northumberland, lies buried in the _Percy Chapel_ at the extreme east end of the Minster, and the wife of another Henry Percy lies buried in Hessle Church. But of her burial there is no record but a simple brass inscribed:—

=Here vnder lieth Daim an percy wyff= =to sir Henry percy=....

Other proud nobles of our Riding were the WAKES and the CLIFFORDS. Hugh Wac married the daughter of Gilbert of Gaunt, the first Earl of Lincoln, and his son Baldwin assisted at the coronation of King Richard I. A descendant, the first Baron Wake, fought in the Scots wars of Edward I. Thomas, the third Baron, was granted by Edward III. leave to convert his manor-house at Cottingham into a castle. From him the Wakes of Somerset claim descent.

On the chancel floor of Londesborough church may be seen the brass of Margaret, Lady Clifford and Vescy, the wife of the Lord Clifford whom Shakspeare calls ‘bloody Clifford.’ This Lord Clifford fought on the Lancastrian side at the disastrous battle of Towton, and was one of the many nobles there slain. During twenty-four years after the battle Henry, Lord Clifford’s son, lived in disguise as a shepherd on the moors round Londesborough and on the hills of Cumberland, thus earning the name of ‘shepherd lord.’ But the battle of Bosworth Field restored the fortunes of the family, and the ‘shepherd lord’ then regained ‘the estates and honours of his ancestors.’

The descendants of Henry, Lord Clifford, became Earls of Cumberland, and the heiress to the Earldom married Richard Boyle, the first Earl of Burlington. Their great-grandson, the third Earl of Burlington, was famed for the rebuilding of Burlington House, London, and for the planting of the ‘Londesborough Clumps.’ This was between the years 1703 and 1753.

From the third Earl of Burlington the Londesborough estates passed in descent to the Dukes of Devonshire, one of whom pulled down its ancient Hall, and afterwards sold the estates to George Hudson, the ‘Railway King.’ By further purchase they devolved upon the present Earl of Londesborough.

* * * * *

Older than the Cliffords are the CONSTABLES, of whom there are in the East Riding two distinct families. Robert Constable, the son of Ulbert, possessed the manor of Halsham in the reign of King Stephen; and from him is descended Major Chichester-Constable, Lord of the Seigniory of Holderness, and owner of Burton Constable Hall.

In the year 1133 was living a certain William Fitz Nigel, Constable of Cheshire and Lord of Flamborough. From him descended Sir Marmaduke Constable of Flamborough, who, when seventy-one years of age, fought together with his four sons in the battle of Flodden. Sir Marmaduke lies buried in the church at Flamborough, where, on his tomb, is a brass inscription recording his exploits. Part of it is here given:—

=Here lieth Marmaduke Cunstable, of fflaynborght, knyght,= =Who made aduentore into ffrance, and for the right of the same= =Passed over with Kyng Edwarde the fouriht, yt noble Knyght;= =And also with noble King Herre, the seuinth of that name.= . . . . . . . . =But for all that, as ye se, he lieth under this stone.=

The Sir Robert Constable who took part in the Pilgrimage of Grace and was hanged in chains over the Beverley Gate at Hull was Sir Marmaduke Constable’s eldest son. With his execution the fifty-one manors that he held were forfeited to the King, but some of these were restored to his descendants by Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth. The last of the Constables of Flamborough took the side of the Parliamentarians in the Great Civil War, and signed the death-warrant of the King.

From the second son of Sir Marmaduke Constable descended the Constables of Everingham, to which house belongs the Duchess of Norfolk, daughter of the late Baron Herries. From Sir Marmaduke’s nephew descended the Constables of Wassand, whose representative to-day is Mr. Henry Strickland Constable of Wassand Hall.

* * * * *

Another East Riding family whose ancestor ‘came over with the Conqueror’ is that of the ST. QUINTINS, whose name is derived from a town in the north of France. Sir Herbert de St. Quintin held the manors of Skipsea, Mappleton and Brandesburton in the reign of Henry I. On the floor of the chancel of Brandesburton church are the brasses of Sir John de St. Quintin, who died in 1397, and his wife Lora.

Several members of the family lie buried in Harpham Church, where are the altar tombs of Sir William de St. Quintin, who died in 1349, and his wife; the brasses of Sir Thomas de St. Quintin and his wife Agnes, dating from about 1420; and the brass of another Thomas de St. Quintin, who died in 1445.

Sir William St. Quintin was Member of Parliament for Hull in the reigns of William III., Anne, and George I.; and Mr. William Herbert St. Quintin, of Scampston Hall and Lowthorpe Lodge, is the present representative of the family.

* * * * *

The ancient family of BOYNTONS took its name from the East Riding village of Boynton. By marriage with the heiress of the Sir Martin de la Mare mentioned at the close of Chapter XVII., the family became possessed of the manor of Barmston; and in 1614 Matthew Boynton married Frances, daughter of Sir Henry Griffith of Burton Agnes. Four years later he was created a baronet by James I., and forty years later his son, Sir Francis Boynton, succeeded to the Burton Agnes estates. Sir Griffith Henry Boynton of Barmston, and Mrs. T. L. Wickham-Boynton of Burton Agnes Hall, are his descendants.

Burton Agnes Hall is famed as being ‘one of the most beautiful Tudor houses in Yorkshire.’ Parts of a building to the west of the Hall go back to about the year 1170, and some of its woodwork dates from the middle of the fifteenth century. But the Hall itself was built in the early years of the seventeenth century, and the date 1601 and the initials of Sir Henry Griffith and his wife are carved in the stonework over the main doorway.

* * * * *

Taking part in the Wars of the Roses was a Robert Hildyard of Winestead, famed widely as ‘Robin of Redesdale.’ Winestead came into possession of the HILDYARDS by the marriage of this Robert with the heiress of the HILTONS, three of whose altar tombs remain to-day in the Hilton chapel of the church at Swine.

Another Robert Hildyard had command of a King’s regiment of horse in the Great Civil War, and for his services in this was knighted and afterwards created a baronet. There are in Winestead Church fragments of large brasses, an altar tomb, and a wall monument, to different members of this family; to a younger branch of which belong the Hildyards who have for many generations been rectors of Rowley.

* * * * *

How early the SALTMARSHES of Saltmarshe, near Howden, took their name is not definitely known. Sir Edward de Salso Marisco was Member of Parliament for Beverley in 1299, and a Geoffrey de Saltmersc held lands at Swinefleet about 1170. Their ancestor is said to be Lionel Saltmarshe, who was knighted by William the Conqueror in 1067. Colonel Philip Saltmarshe is the representative of the family to-day.

* * * * *

Last to be mentioned here are the STRICKLANDS of Boynton. The family had its origin at Marske, in the North Riding, and a Sir Thomas de Strickland bore the banner of St. George at the battle of Agincourt.

William Strickland, who purchased the manor of Boynton in 1549, sailed when a youth to the New World with Sebastian Cabot, and helped to discover Labrador and Newfoundland. He is said to have introduced the turkey into our country—a deed commemorated in the family crest. His descendant was created a baronet by King Charles I., and the present Sir Walter William Strickland, of Boynton Hall, is the ninth holder of the title.

Readers of _Tom Brown’s School-Days_ will all remember the hero’s friend Martin, his second in the historic fight with Slogger Williams. ‘The Madman’ was his name among his fellow school-boys, but it was as Sir Charles Strickland that he was known in the neighbourhood of Boynton.

XXIV. STAGE COACH AND RAILWAY.

Travelling for pleasure is something that we all understand. But our forefathers a few centuries ago would have thought a person mad if he had said he was going to take a journey for pleasure. Merchants had to travel, and so had messengers; but ordinary folk stayed at home, unless the burden of their sins moved them to undertake a pilgrimage to some far-off shrine. Such journeys were performed on horseback or afoot, but invalid women and infirm old men might use a horse-litter.

Until the reign of Queen Mary I. there was in England no such thing as a coach. The lumbering _stage waggon_ with wheels ten or twelve inches wide, and drawn by eight or ten horses attended by a driver who rode on the back of a pony, came into use during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Its successor, the _stage coach_, was not invented till the time when King Charles paid his first visit to Hull.

Two years before the accession of Charles II., a regular coach service from London to York was announced, the coaches to make the journey three times a week in the advertised time of four days. But this time was largely exceeded as a rule, and at nearly the close of the century we find the coach taking six days to reach London from York.

The development of road travel may be said to date from the year 1662, when an Act of Parliament was passed for improving the condition of the main roads, permission being granted to those local authorities that desired it, to erect toll bars and charge travellers for the privilege of using the roads when put into repair. Yorkshire roads in particular were notoriously bad, as the letter written to Thomas Cromwell in 1538 shows.[60]

Footnote 60:

See pages 199–200.

But few local authorities stirred themselves in the matter of road improvement, and an old coach bill still preserved at the _Black Swan_ in Coney Street, York, has a very significant reminder of the dangers attending the journey to London in 1706:—

All that are desirous to pass from London to York, or from York to London ... may be received in a Stage Coach every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, which performs the whole Journey in Four Days (_if God permits_).

As an example of the TURNPIKE ACTS which became numerous as the eighteenth century slipped away, may be taken the ‘Act for Repairing the Road between the Town of Kingston upon Hull, and the Town of Beverley in the East Riding of the County of York.’ This came into force on May 1st, 1744. By it Trustees were appointed

for the surveying, ordering, amending, and keeping in Repair, the said Road ... and they ... shall and may erect, or cause to be erected, a Gate or Gates, Turnpike or Turnpikes, in or cross any Part or Parts of the said Road, and also a Toll-house or Toll-houses in or upon the same; and shall receive and take the Tolls and Duties following, before any Horse, Mare, Gelding, Mule, Ass, Cattle, Coach, Chariot, Landau, Berlin, Chaise, Calash, Chair, Hearse, Litter, Waggon, Wain, or Cart, or other Carriage whatsoever, shall be permitted to pass through the same.

The tolls payable varied from one-and-sixpence for a six-horsed coach, or a waggon drawn by five or more oxen, to three half-pence for an ‘Ass, not drawing.’ A drove of oxen was charged tenpence, and one of swine or sheep fivepence, per score.

Thus the users of a road paid for its upkeep, the very necessary reservation being made that no tolls were to be demanded in the case of men and vehicles engaged in farming operations; nor for waggons carrying hay or straw to be laid in the houses of the people in the neighbouring parishes and townships;[61] nor from persons attending the funeral of a parishioner, or attending ‘Church, Chapel, or other Place of Religious Worship on Sundays’; nor from voters going to and returning from the poll.

Footnote 61:

The floor of the Council Chamber at the Hull Trinity House is still strewn with rushes, these being changed about every six weeks.

As the result of such Turnpike Acts’ being enforced, stage coaching increased considerably; and the year 1760 saw the birth of _Flying Machines on Steel Springs_, that got through the journey from Leeds to London in the short space of three days. But the journey was still accomplished at some considerable amount of personal discomfort; for the ‘outside’ passengers had to stand all the time in a kind of huge basket slung behind the body of the coach.

From 1785, in which year the Royal Mails began to be conveyed by stage coach, travel increased by leaps and bounds; and stage coaching may be said to have reached the height of its prosperity about 1835.

The old coaching roads of the East Riding are shown on the map given on the opposite page. Most frequented of all was that from Hull to York—in part the Roman road over Barmby Moor. From Beverley to Bridlington there were alternative routes used by rival coach proprietors. The announcement of one of these reads as follows:—

The BRITISH QUEEN leaves the Stirling Castle, Bridlington Quay, at Seven every morning (Sundays excepted), by way of Brandsburton and Beverley, and arrives at the Kingston and Vittoria Hotels, the George and Bull and Sun Inns, Hull, at Eleven in the Forenoon. The Coach returns in the afternoon, at four, by the same route, after the arrival of the Barton Packet with the Express Passengers from London, and arrives at the Stirling Castle, Bridlington Quay, at Eight o’clock in the evening.

The BRITISH QUEEN will be found a delightful conveyance to Bridlington Quay, on account of the Road for the last Six Miles being close to the Sea Side, and passing through a most beautiful part of the country.

So say the proprietors of the _British Queen_. But what have those of the rival coach to tell us?

The Public are respectfully informed that the WELLINGTON leaves the Cross Keys General Coach Office, Hull, every morning, at Six, to Beverley, Driffield, Bridlington and Quay, Hunmanby, and Filey, and arrives at the Bell Inn and Blacksmith’s Arms, Scarbro’, at Twelve; proceeds at Four to Whitby, Guisbro, Stockton, Sunderland, Shields, Durham, Newcastle, and Edinbro’. Seats secured at any time.

* * * * *

The Road by Driffield is so well known as to be universally recommended. The Sea having made such dreadful havoc of the Brandsburton Road during the last few years as to render it dangerous travelling that way, being, for five or six miles, quite at the edge of the cliff.

Both these advertisements appeared in the columns of the _Hull Packet_ in 1833; and timorous old ladies who wished to journey from Hull to Bridlington in that year were no doubt very thankful to the proprietors of the _Wellington_ for making so clear the dangers of the road traversed by that ‘delightful conveyance,’ the _British Queen_.

Still standing by the side of what is now Cardigan Road at Bridlington, there is a mile stone informing all who desire the information that Beverley is distant 22 miles. It is on the old coaching road once traversed daily by the _British Queen_. But a few hundred yards past this relic of the old coaching days the road now reaches the sea-shore, and the remaining portion as far as Barmston has long since disappeared under the waves of the North Sea.

* * * * *

Very pleasant it must have been in the ‘Thirties’ to travel by a well-appointed stage coach—say the _Rockingham_, _Rodney_, _Trafalgar_, _Wellington_, _True Briton_, _Express_, _Telegraph_, _King William_, or _Queen Adelaide_, all of which coaches were running from Hull in 1832.

But this would be, of course, provided the weather were fine, and one could afford to travel ‘first class.’ It would not be pleasant to have to get out and walk uphill as the ‘second class’ passengers were expected to do in the case of a coach running from North Cave to Hull through Brantingham and Hessle; and it would be decidedly unpleasant to have to get out and push behind, as was demanded of the ‘third class’ passengers by this coach.

But there was always the danger of highwaymen to be faced, and the Royal Mail travelled ‘with a guard well armed,’ as the coaching bill reproduced on page 241 shows.