Hemingbrough: Osgodby

OSGODBY

The village of Osgodby lies 2½ miles north-west of Hemingbrough. The township nowhere reaches to the Ouse and it consists mostly of slightly elevated ground, exceeding 25 ft. above sea-level. In the south it includes a little of the flat land bordering the river, and a stream forms the township boundary there. Osgodby was a Scandinavian settlement. The area of the township was 1,559 a. (fn. 1) The open fields lay around the village, with common meadows further south; much of the land north of the village was occupied by early inclosures, including a park around the manor-house, but in the far north an extensive common adjoined similar land in Riccall and South Duffield. The open fields, meadows, and commons were inclosed in 1819. (fn. 2)

The village stands at the junction of roads leading to Barlby, Cliffe, South Duffield, and Skipwith, and the turnpike road from Selby to Market Weighton crosses the north of the township. The Barlby and Cliffe roads have been improved in the 20th century as part of the Selby-Hull trunk road, and a bypass south of the village was built in the 1920s. (fn. 3) The Selby-Hull railway line, opened in 1840, (fn. 4) and the line from Selby to Market Weighton, opened in 1848 and closed in 1965, both cross the south of the township. (fn. 5)

The older part of the village includes no noteworthy houses. There has been much new building in the 20th century, including eight council houses in the village centre. There are a few private houses on the South Duffield road near Osgodby Hall, (fn. 6) and many more on the bypass and both along and behind the Barlby road. A single alehouse in Osgodby was licensed in the 1750s and 1760s, but none later in the century. (fn. 7) The Half Moon was recorded in 1823 (fn. 8) but thereafter only a beerhouse until 1879, when the Wadkin Arms was in existence. (fn. 9) It was still the only public house in 1973.

There is no poll-tax return for Osgodby. In 1672 25 households were included in the hearth-tax return, all of them chargeable. Fifteen had one hearth each, 6 had 2, and 4 had 3 to five. (fn. 10) In 1801 the population was 146; it reached a maximum of 225 in 1861 and 1881, but had fallen to 190 in 1901. (fn. 11) It rose to 294 in 1931 before Osgodby was united with Barlby civil parish. (fn. 12)

MANOR AND OTHER ESTATES.

In 1086 2 carucates and 7½ bovates in Osgodby belonged to the count of Mortain and were held from him by Niel Fossard, who had succeeded William Malet. Of that total 3 bovates had been held before the Conquest by Norman and Tochi. The whole estate was soke of the bishop of Durham's manor of Howden. (fn. 13) The bishop's overlordship was still mentioned in 1504. (fn. 14) From the Fossards the mesne lordship descended to Joan of Turnham and her husband Robert by 1204, (fn. 15) and to Isabel de Mauley and her husband Peter by 1223. (fn. 16)

In 1204 the manor of OSGODBY was held in demesne by Jordan de Hameldon, otherwise known as Jordan of Osgodby. (fn. 17) By 1223 it had passed to Jordan's daughter Denise, who married Sampson de la Pomeray, (fn. 18) and it subsequently passed to Adam of Osgodby. (fn. 19) In 1284-5 Robert of Osgodby held the manor (fn. 20) and he was followed by his son, another Robert. Its ownership was subsequently in dispute and a settlement was reached only in 1460, in favour of Thomas Babthorpe. The Babthorpes claimed that Robert of Osgodby the younger had two daughters, Emme, who married John Rabace, and Cecily, who married Hugh Turnyll, and that Hugh's son Ralph conveyed the manor to William Kettering. From Kettering it passed to the Babthorpes, apparently about 1440. The rival claim of the Hagthorpe family was that the manor passed to them by the marriage of Robert of Osgodby's sister to Thomas Hagthorpe. (fn. 21)

The Babthorpes retained Osgodby until 1622, when Sir William Babthorpe sold it to Sir Guy Palmes. (fn. 22) In 1668 William Palmes sold it to Sir Jeremiah Smith (d. 1675), (fn. 23) and in 1704 his grandson Jeremiah conveyed it to John Burdett. (fn. 24) On Richard Burdett's death in 1744 the manor passed to his daughter Elizabeth, who married first George Ridley and secondly, in 1778, T. F. Pritchard, who assumed the surname Burdett. (fn. 25) In 1785 T. F. Burdett sold the manor to George Dawson. (fn. 26) It was conveyed by G. P. Dawson to Riley Briggs in 1861, together with 1,125 a. (fn. 27)

Briggs died in 1913 and in 1919 his devisees sold the manor, with Osgodby Hall and 338 a., to A. G. Hopper. (fn. 28) The manor and hall, with 84 a. of land, were sold to Sir Charles H. Wilson (d. 1930) in 1927, (fn. 29) to L. S. Charlton in 1936, and to E. A. Whittaker in 1949, and, without most of the land, to M. S. Moorse in 1957 and to Mr. Oliver Adamson in 1969. (fn. 30) The sale to Hopper in 1919 included the 254-acre Home farm, most of which was sold to J. W. Johnson in 1924, to F. B. Lax in 1928, to J. W. Proctor in 1936, and to R. H. Simpson in 1945. (fn. 31) The Simpsons already had other property in the township, including the 161-acre White House farm, later called Osgodby Grange, which T. H. Simpson bought from Riley Briggs's devisees in 1920. (fn. 32)

The manor-house at Osgodby apparently contained a chapel in the 15th century. (fn. 33) In 1672 the largest house in the village, with five hearths, was occupied by Sir Jeremiah Smith, (fn. 34) who may thus already have been the tenant of the manor-house. There is a tradition that the Babthorpes' house was rebuilt c. 1700 and it is possible that it was an 18thcentury house that passed to G. P. Dawson in 1844. Dawson employed Edmund Sharpe to enlarge and remodel the house in a Tudor style, providing a porch and entrance hall on the east and adding a tower in 1854. (fn. 35) His successor Riley Briggs made further alterations later in the century, notably by replacing many fire-places and refitting the entrance hall. After a fire c. 1956 the tower and central part of the house were demolished and the roof-line simplified.

The outline of the former park, with its drives, ponds, and planting, could still be traced in 1973, and the modern garden is in part bounded by a later19th-century iron fence and incorporates an 18thcentury dovecot and an icehouse. South-west of the house are the walls of an extensive early-19thcentury kitchen garden and farmery. Large Victorian gate-piers from the former main entrance to the park have been re-erected at a new house east of the hall. Home Farm bears the date 1863 and the initials of Riley Briggs.

Drax priory, (fn. 36) Selby abbey, (fn. 37) and Thicket priory (fn. 38) all had small estates in Osgodby. The Knights Templars of Temple Hirst were given land there in the 13th century (fn. 39) and it was attached to the manor of Temple Hirst until the 20th century. (fn. 40)

The rectorial tithes of Osgodby descended like those of Barlby, most of them with Hemingbrough manor but those of pigs and poultry with Babthorpe manor. (fn. 41) The former were worth £35 and the latter, together with similar tithes in Barlby and Cliffe with Lund, £3 in 1650. (fn. 42) The former tithes were sold to George Dawson in 1812, (fn. 43) and they were commuted in 1841 for rent-charges of £71 18s. 6d. payable to G. P. Dawson. For the tithes of pigs and poultry £3 were awarded to C. T. Heathcote in 1841. (fn. 44)

ECONOMIC HISTORY.

The larger of the two estates at Osgodby in 1086, containing 2 carucates and 4½ bovates, was said to have land for 2 ploughs. There were then, however, one plough on the demesne, 2 held by 9 villeins, and 2 more held by 6 sokemen, 4 villeins, and 2 bordars. The estate had decreased in value from £2 before the Conquest to £1 in 1086. The smaller estate, of 3 bovates, had one plough in demesne. There was 20 a. of meadow and pasturable woodland ½ league in length and breadth. The estate had fallen in value from 12s. to 5s. (fn. 45) The continued existence of waste and woodland in the 13th century is shown by references to common pasture for 200 sheep, common in the turbary, and pasture for pigs in the woodland. Much assarting was also taking place. Besides references to open-field land there was mention of an assart in Scouilacris, one under Stonihag, another belonging to William de Norais, and one called Swynhale; in addition 6 a. inclosed with a dike lay in an assart called Thinnewode. There was also meadow in the Outfield. (fn. 46)

A Wednesday market and a fair on 7-9 September were granted to Robert of Osgodby in 1302, (fn. 47) but are not mentioned later.

Old inclosures eventually covered much of the township. In 1819 they included 53 a. in Maw, Little Moor, Great Moor, and Gill Ruddings, and 28 a. in Little and Great Hall parks. (fn. 48) The latter were perhaps remnants of a medieval deer park; lands called Long flats within the park had been mentioned in 1591. (fn. 49) When the remaining open fields, meadows, and commons were inclosed in 1819, (fn. 50) under an Act of 1811, (fn. 51) they amounted to only 475 a. Allotments were made from the common, totalling 164 a., West field (46 a.), Mill field (30 a.), New Moors field (19 a.), Far field (17 a.), Teathill field (16 a.), and jointly from those fields and from the ings (177 a.). There were 7 allotments of under 10 a., 5 of 10-49 a., and one of 316 a. made to George Dawson, lord of the manor, which included 190 a. for rectorial tithes.

In 1841 there were 1,324 a. of arable land and 200 a. of meadow and pasture in the township. (fn. 52) A larger proportion of grassland was recorded in the 20th century, however, together with several large plantations. (fn. 53) The improvement of the estate by G. P. Dawson and Riley Briggs, successively lords of the manor, in the later 19th century apparently included the making of a new park, the construction of a large decoy lake, and the planting of woodland. (fn. 54) The park had been converted to farmland by 1973. There have usually been 10-15 farmers in the 19th and 20th centuries. Five of them had 100 a. or more in 1851 (fn. 55) and 3 or 4 of them had 150 a. or more in the 1920s. (fn. 56) Since the 1930s there have also been several smallholders, working land acquired by the East Riding county council for the purpose. (fn. 57)

A windmill was worked at Osgodby throughout the 19th century (fn. 58) and a miller was last mentioned in 1905. (fn. 59) Part of the tower still stood in 1973, near the Cliffe road south-east of the village.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

There are surviving call rolls and other court papers for Osgodby manor for a few years between 1824 and 1856. (fn. 60) The township had several poorhouses, still standing in 1841 on an island site at the junction of the Skipwith and South Duffield roads. (fn. 61)

Osgodby joined Selby poor-law union in 1837; (fn. 62) it became part of Riccall rural district in 1894, Derwent rural district in 1935, (fn. 63) and the Selby district of North Yorkshire in 1974.

NONCONFORMITY.

The Babthorpe family were prominent Roman Catholics in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. (fn. 64) A house in Osgodby was registered for dissenting worship in 1819. (fn. 65) The Wesleyans had a meeting-place in 1851 (fn. 66) and the Primitive Methodists another which had closed by 1914, (fn. 67) but there has never been a purpose-built chapel in the township.

EDUCATION.

Osgodby children have always attended school at Barlby.

CHARITIES FOR THE POOR.

The poor of Osgodby benefited from an unknown donor's gift at South Duffield. (fn. 68)