North division: Nunkeeling

NUNKEELING

The parish lies 22 km. NNE. of Hull, extending east–west for about 5 km. over some of the highest ground in Holderness. (fn. 1) It focuses on two distinct settlements. At the west end was the parish church and the priory founded in the mid 12th century, which gave parish and settlement the first element of their name. The earlier name Keeling was Anglian, meaning the place of 'Cylla and his people'. (fn. 2) Since the Dissolution the settlement of Nunkeeling seems to have been very small, and in the 17th century it was called Little Keeling. (fn. 3) Larger, but still not large, is the hamlet of Bewholme, 2 km. east, where a mission church became the parish church in 1928. (fn. 4) The name Bewholme is Scandanavian and is believed to refer to bends in a river, (fn. 5) presumably Stream dike which forms the eastern parish boundary.

In 1851 the ancient parish contained 2,315 a. (937 ha.). (fn. 6) The civil parish, called Bewholme and Nunkeeling, had the same area. In 1935 the civil parish was united with those of Dunnington, in Beeford, and Bonwick, in Skipsea, to form the new civil parish of Bewholme, with a total area of 3,934 a. (1,592 ha.). (fn. 7) In 1984 c. 28 ha. (70 a.) were transferred to Bewholme from Brandesburton civil parish and about 1 ha. (3 a.) lost to Seaton civil parish. (fn. 8) In 1991 Bewholme comprised 1,619 ha. (4,001 a.). (fn. 9)

In 1377 there were 130 poll-tax payers in Nunkeeling, Bewholme, and Arram, in Atwick. At the Dissolution the priory housed 12 nuns, and c. 25 other people lived or worked there. (fn. 10) In 1672 Bewholme, Arram, and presumably also Nunkeeling, had 40 houses assessed for hearth tax. (fn. 11) The parish had 26 families in 1743 and 22 in 1764. (fn. 12) From 173 in 1801 the population rose to 291 in 1841, but had fallen to 217 by 1911 and stood at 224 in 1931, when the area later included in the new civil parish of Bewholme had 303 inhabitants. The population was 267 in 1951 and 235 in 1991, when 246 were usually resident. (fn. 13)

The parish is largely on boulder clay. Scattered alluvial deposits occur on the lower land, and there is a pocket of sand and gravel near the southern boundary. (fn. 14) The land lies mostly more than 15 m. above sea level, rising in the middle and north of the parish to over 23 m. and to 30 m. north of the priory site. The parish is drained chiefly by Stream dike which flows north towards the Skipsea and Barmston drains and eventual outfall into the North Sea. It was evidently Stream dike which was in disrepair in 1367. (fn. 15) Lesser streams carry water from the middle of the parish into a sewer in Dunnington, and others bounded the ancient parish on the west and south. (fn. 16) At Nunkeeling the tillage lay north and south of the settlement and was evidently inclosed early, along with the other commonable lands. In Bewholme township the tillage apparently occupied the ground on either side of the settlement, with common meadows and pastures on lower ground in the east and south-west of the parish; Bewholme's commonable lands were inclosed in 1740.

The principal road is that crossing the parish between Brandesburton in the west and Atwick in the east. Other minor roads from Bewholme lead north to Skipsea and south to Seaton, in Sigglesthorne, and Hornsea. From Nunkeeling roads lead north to Dunnington, west to Brandesburton, and south and south-east to the principal road. The road south was made in 1796 to replace a way which evidently ran along the western parish boundary. (fn. 17)

NUNKEELING. Since the mid 19th century Nunkeeling has comprised only a dozen scattered houses, half of them farmhouses. The manor house, called Nunkeeling Priory, dates from c. 1700. (fn. 18) In front of Magdalen Cottage, formerly Nunkeeling Cottage Farm, is the shaft of a stone cross inscribed 1718.

BEWHOLME. At Bewholme the settlement lies in two distinct groups, one near the junction of the Brandesburton-Atwick and SkipseaSeaton roads, the other a group of farmhouses to the north known as North End. The buildings near the junction lie along the two intersecting roads and in side lanes running west from the Skipsea road. The 18th-century manor house (fn. 19) was built on the north side of the Brandesburton road. In the 19th century new buildings on the Skipsea-Seaton road, close to the junction, included the vicarage house, dissenting chapel, and school. Later building included the mission church of 1900 and 14 council houses. (fn. 20) Most of the buildings are of brick, but on one of the side lanes and beside the Brandesburton and Seaton roads there are several with boulder walls. Numbers 3 and 4 Front Row comprise a boulderbuilt, lobby-entry cottage, probably of the 18th century, which was extended and divided in the 19th. Two conservation areas in Bewholme were designated in 1991. (fn. 21) A 19th-century water pump survives opposite the school.

One or two houses at Bewholme were licensed in the later 18th century, and there was a beerhouse there in the mid 19th century. (fn. 22) A former chapel-of-ease at Bewholme was used c. 1920 as a reading room and general parish meeting place, and a hut north of the church has been used as a recreation room since 1921. (fn. 23)

OUTLYING BUILDINGS include Moor Cottage in the north-west corner of the parish; it was run as a private lunatic asylum by the Beal family from 1821 to 1851, housing up to 29 private and pauper inmates. (fn. 24) Billings Hill Farm, north-east of the settlement of Nunkeeling, and Bewholme Grange, part of North End, existed by 1772, and Bewholme Hall from c. 1800. (fn. 25)

Between 1938 and 1949 the Air Ministry bought or obtained rights over c. 120 a. in the south-west corner of the parish for use as part of Catfoss airfield, which was mostly in Sigglesthorne. (fn. 26) The airfield was closed to flying in 1945 and completely in 1963; (fn. 27) the land in Nunkeeling was sold in the 1960s and has since been returned to agriculture or used industrially. (fn. 28)

MANORS AND OTHER ESTATES

In 1066 two manors of Keeling, comprising 4 carucates, were held by two men called Ketilfrith, and 5 carucates and 6 bovates in three manors of Bewholme by Norman, Ketilfrith, and Thorkil. All of the land had passed by 1086 to Drew de Bevrère and was later part of the Aumale fee. Drew's undertenants were then Baldwin in Keeling and Manbodo in Bewholme. In 1066 Ulf held 2 carucates in Keeling as soke of Beeford manor, and they too had passed to Drew by 1086. (fn. 29)

Herbert de St. Quintin (fl. early 12th century) evidently held a large part of the Aumale fee in the parish. Herbert's relict Agnes de Arches, or of Catfoss, used much of the estate to found Nunkeeling priory c. 1150. Agnes's gift, which was confirmed by her stepson Richard de St. Quintin, comprised Nunkeeling church, 3 carucates at Nunkeeling, and land and rights in Bewholme wood. (fn. 30) Other donors included her sons William and Hugh Foliot, her daughter Alice de St. Quintin, and her son Walter de Fauconberg. (fn. 31) In the mid 13th century the priory held half of Bewholme, comprising 3 carucates, and by 1276 it had 5 carucates at Nunkeeling and Bewholme together. In 1316 the prioress was named sole lord of Nunkeeling; at Bewholme one of the lords was then given as the prior of Bridlington, evidently in error for the prioress of Nunkeeling. (fn. 32) The priory was surrendered in 1540, and its site and the lands at Nunkeeling and Bewholme were granted that year to Sir Richard Gresham. (fn. 33)

Gresham (d. 1549) gave a moiety of NUNKEELING manor to his daughter Christine and her husband Sir John Thynne (d. 1580). That share descended from father to son, being held in turn by Sir John Thynne (fn. 34) (d. 1604), Sir Thomas Thynne (d. 1639), Sir Thomas Thynne (d. by 1671), and Thomas Thynne (d. 1682), before being sold in 1683 and 1684 to Edward Howard, later viscount Morpeth. (fn. 35) Edward's son Charles Howard, earl of Carlisle, sold his half of the manor to John Hudson in 1707. Hudson was succeeded by his brother William (d. 1734), who devised the share of Nunkeeling to his son Benjamin. (fn. 36) At the inclosure of Bewholme in 1740 Benjamin Hudson was awarded 279 a. jointly with the proprietor of the other half of Nunkeeling for the commonable lands of the manor. (fn. 37) Hudson (d. 1761) left the estate to his son John, who later reunited the manor by purchase. (fn. 38)

The other half of Nunkeeling manor evidently descended in turn to Sir Richard Gresham's sons Sir John (d. by 1563) and Sir Thomas (d. 1579). (fn. 39) In 1586–7 Thomas's widow Anne settled it on her son Sir William Read's son Sir Thomas (d. 1595), with remainder to Anne (d. 1596). Sir William Read (d. 1621) succeeded his mother. (fn. 40) Read's estate was shared after his death between his granddaughters, Jane Withypoole, Elizabeth Berkeley, Lady Berkeley, and Bridget Feilding, countess of Desmond. (fn. 41) Jane's share had descended by 1646 to her daughter Elizabeth, wife of Leicester Devereux, later viscount Hereford (d. 1676), and he bought the other shares in 1660. (fn. 42) In 1681 Devereux's executors sold his half of the manor to Arthur Thornton (d. after 1683). From Thornton the estate descended in turn to his son Sir William (d. by 1715) and grandson William Thornton. At the inclosure of Bewholme in 1740 Thornton was awarded 279 a. jointly with Benjamin Hudson, the owner of the other half of the manor, and in 1761 he sold his half to Benjamin's son and successor, John Hudson. (fn. 43)

Hudson died in 1772 and his Nunkeeling estate was sold in several lots between 1773 and 1775. Thomas Carter bought c. 350 a. in a farm, later known alternatively as Church or Manor farm, from Hudson's trustees in 1774 and c. 140 a. more the following year from John Burrill. (fn. 44) The manorial rights were, however, retained by Hudson's trustees and c. 1840 they belonged to Henry Hudson. (fn. 45) Carter (d. 1795) was succeeded by his daughter Rosamond (d. 1837), wife of Robert Dixon (d. by 1827), and they in turn by their son Thomas (d. 1850) and grandson T. C. Dixon. (fn. 46) The estate was enlarged in 1894 with c. 70 a. in Moor House and Cottage farms at Nunkeeling. (fn. 47) It passed after Dixon's death in 1899 to his son T. C. B. Dixon, who had previously bought c. 110 a. in Laburnum farm, Bewholme, and in 1906 added Bewholme Manor farm, later Bewholme Manor House farm, of c. 200 a. (fn. 48)

T. C. B. Dixon (d. 1906) was succeeded by his brother Robert Dixon, who had c. 880 a. in the parish in 1910. (fn. 49) After Dixon's death in 1937, most of the estate was partitioned between two of his daughters. In 1939 Elizabeth Ken nedy received Bewholme House farm, comprising c. 210 a., and Muriel Dixon c. 300 a., mostly in Church and Nunkeeling Cottage farms. (fn. 50) Elizabeth Kennedy (d. 1952) was succeeded in Bewholme House farm by her children, the Revd. Francis Kennedy and Kathleen Molz, and Kathleen and Mr. Kennedy's son Andrew were the joint owners in 1992. (fn. 51) Muriel Dixon died in 1968, and in 1973 her farms, together with Manor House and Laburnum farms at Bewholme, were vested in the Revd. Francis Kennedy and Kathleen Molz who later sold much of the estate in separate lots. (fn. 52) Laburnum farm was bought by R. L. Kirkwood in 1983, (fn. 53) Church and Nunkeeling Cottage farms, then comprising c. 260 a., by the Arnott family in 1987, (fn. 54) and c. 85 a., formerly part of Bewholme Manor House farm, by R. W. Elliott c. 1990. The Dixon heirs retained c. 125 a. in 1992. (fn. 55)

The chief house at Nunkeeling, formerly Manor House, (fn. 56) was built in the later 17th or early 18th century, although it incorporated some fragments of medieval walling from the nunnery. It served as the farmhouse for Church farm until 1967, when the house was separated from the land by sale; it has since been remodelled and renamed Nunkeeling Priory. (fn. 57)

After the appropriation of the church in 1409 the RECTORY also belonged to Nunkeeling priory. It was valued at £8 at the Dissolution. (fn. 58) In 1544 the Crown granted the rectory to Sir Richard Gresham, who had previously obtained the priory's landed estate, Nunkeeling manor. The rectory descended with the manor and was held in the same shares. (fn. 59) In 1650 the impropriators were given as George Feilding, earl of Desmond, husband of Bridget Feilding, presumably representing Read's heirs, and Sir Thomas Thynne. The rectory was then valued at £71. (fn. 60) At the inclosure of Bewholme in 1740 the two impropriators, Benjamin Hudson and William Thornton, were awarded a rent charge of £36 for the rectorial tithes; 9 bovates of their land were then tithe-free, (fn. 61) presumably as former demesne of the priory.

Much of the Aumale fee at Nunkeeling was held in the mid 13th century by Simon Whittick, who had 3 carucates there, and in 1284–5 by William Whittick. (fn. 62) No more is known of the estate.

It was probably part of the St. Quintin estate at Nunkeeling which Anne Fiennes, Lady Dacre (d. 1595), devised to Emanuel hospital, London. Comprising c. 50 a. in 1910, it descended with a larger estate in Brandesburton. (fn. 63)

The St. Quintins' estate at BEWHOLME had by 1278 descended to Herbert de St. Quintin, who then partitioned 2 carucates and 5 bovates and other land there with Walter de Fauconberg, later Lord Fauconberg. (fn. 64) In 1287 Herbert held 1 carucate and 2 bovates of the Aumale fee in demesne at Bewholme, and he was granted free warren there in 1286. (fn. 65) The St. Quintins' estate had evidently been granted away by the mid 14th century. John Moore, named as a lord of Bewholme in 1316, was presumably a tenant of the St. Quintins, and on the death of Herbert de St. Quintin in 1347 his only estate at Bewholme was apparently the 4 bovates held of him by Roger Moore. (fn. 66) The purchaser from the St. Quintins may have been Sir William de la Pole (d. 1366), who held 1 carucate and 6½ bovates at Bewholme under Burstwick, the chief manor of the Aumale fee. (fn. 67) From William's widow Catherine (d. 1382) the estate, later called Bewholme manor, descended to Edmund de la Pole, earl of Suffolk (d. 1513). (fn. 68)

Bewholme manor was evidently held of the de la Poles by the Butlers and Plessingtons, probably as heirs of Sir Walter Fauconberg. In 1391 a half share of Bewholme manor and those of Bilton, in Swine, and Catwick was settled on Richard Butler and his wife Catherine, evidently in her right. (fn. 69) Like Bilton, that share of Bewholme manor seems to have passed to Isabel Holme (fl. 1463), while the other moiety descended in the Plessingtons and their heirs, the Francises, Staveleys, and Flowers. (fn. 70) The whole or part of a manor of Bewholme being dealt with by Alexander Balam in 1510 and 1527 belonged to the same estate. (fn. 71)

Much of Bewholme was held by the Fauconbergs. In 1202 Parnel, widow of Stephen de Fauconberg (d. 1199), released to Stephen's brother Walter and his wife Agnes, her sister, land of the Fauconbergs at Bewholme which she presumably held in dower. (fn. 72) Walter and Agnes were succeeded by William de Fauconberg, who held half of Bewholme, comprising 3 carucates, in the mid 13th century. (fn. 73) His successor, Walter de Fauconberg, later Lord Fauconberg, who partitioned land at Bewholme with Herbert de St. Quintin in 1278, held 1 carucate and 2 bovates of the Aumale fee there in 1287. (fn. 74) The estate, held by free tenants and said to comprise 6 carucates in the 14th and 15th centuries, descended as an appurtenance of the Fauconbergs' manor of Rise to their successors, the Nevilles and later the Crown. (fn. 75)

Bewholme was evidently settled on descendents of Stephen de Fauconberg. William de Fauconberg (d. 1294) held a wood in Nunkeeling, perhaps at Bewholme, of Walter de Fauconberg, Lord Fauconberg, and it was presumably William's grandson who, as Walter son of John de Fauconberg, was named as a lord of Bewholme in 1316. (fn. 76) John de Fauconberg (d. 1366) was succeeded in 1 carucate at Bewholme, held of Lady Isabel de Fauconberg's manor of Rise, by his son (Sir) Walter. That estate probably descended with Walter's other land in Bewholme, (fn. 77) and it seems to have been the same which Hilary Constable (d. 1571) held. (fn. 78)

It was presumably all or part of Walter de Fauconberg's estate which the Hopper family held under Rise manor in the early 17th century. A manor house, and evidently also land, descended from William Hopper to his son Walter (d. 1658) (fn. 79) and from Walter to his daughter Susanna, who married Robert Johnson in 1659. (fn. 80) The manor was later shared between the Johnsons' daughters, of whom Susanna married Simon Grindall. The Grindalls' son Simon bought another ¹/5 share from William Piper in 1728 and was awarded 58 a. at inclosure in 1740. (fn. 81) He was dead by 1742, when his widow Priscilla bought another ¹/5 from Elizabeth Burton, granddaughter of Robert Johnson. (fn. 82) Priscilla was dead by 1748, and in 1761 her daughter Priscilla Grindall sold the estate to William Acklam (d. 1789). (fn. 83) It then descended from father to son, being held by William Acklam (d. 1804), Thomas Acklam (d. 1811), and William Acklam (d. 1865). (fn. 84) The executors of William's widow Ann (d. 1873) sold the estate, of 205 a., in 1875 to John Bainton (d. 1891). (fn. 85) Bainton's son John sold it, as Bewholme Manor farm, in 1906 to T. C. B. Dixon and it later descended with the Dixon family's larger estate in the parish. (fn. 86)

Bewholme Manor House is an early 18th century building which was enlarged and remodelled in the mid 19th century. It has extensive farm buildings of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Another manor of Bewholme was sold by Edmund Lloyd in 1709 to John Hudson, who also bought part of Nunkeeling manor and rectory. (fn. 87) Hudson devised it to his brother William (d. 1734) and he to his son Thomas, who was awarded 358 a. at inclosure in 1740. (fn. 88) Thomas Hudson (d. by 1764) left the manor to his nephew William Hudson (d. by 1810), (fn. 89) and William's wife and daughter sold most of the estate in 1810–16. (fn. 90) The largest part, comprising c. 315 a. and including shares previously sold to others, passed to Thomas Ward (d. by 1830). (fn. 91) He was succeeded by his son Thomas (d. by 1868), who enlarged the estate at Bewholme to c. 370 a. (fn. 92) Ward's trustees sold it in several lots in 1891, 220 a. going to Samuel Haldane (d. 1910). (fn. 93) As Bewholme Hall farm, it was sold in 1910 to W. S. Hoe and in 1911 first to Walter Stickney and then to Edmond Richardson (d. 1915) and Francis Richardson. (fn. 94) In 1938 the farm was vested in Francis (d. 1955) and F. W. O. Richardson, and it still belonged to the Richardsons in 1992. (fn. 95)

ECONOMIC HISTORY

Agriculture before 1800. Nunkeeling and Bewholme probably each had their own fields and commons.

Nunkeeling. At Nunkeeling in 1086 there was land for 4 ploughteams and 16 a. of meadow land. (fn. 96) Part of the tillage there lay north and south of the priory, where ridge-and-furrow survived in 1992. The commonable lands of the settlement were presumably inclosed early by the priory. The house and its tenants evidently also enjoyed grazing rights on Brandesburton moor, a funnel-shaped outgang followed by the parish boundary linking the village and the moor. (fn. 97)

Bewholme. At Bewholme in 1086 there was 1 ploughland and 20 a. of meadow. (fn. 98) The open fields there were recorded as East and West fields in 1562, (fn. 99) and ridge-and-furrow survived on either side of the village in 1992. The fields were said to include meadow land and pasture, some of the grassland in East field probably lying in Mask. (fn. 100) On the eve of inclosure in 1740, East field contained 37 and West field 35 narrow bovates, and each field had 12 broad bovates. Rough grazing was then also provided by New pasture, which adjoined West field. When West field was fallow, it was grazed in summer with New pasture, 10 beast gates being enjoyed in the field and pasture for each broad bovate in West field and 4 gates for each narrow bovate. When East field was fallow, New pasture was grazed in summer at the rate of 20 gates for each broad and 2 gates for each narrow bovate in East field; the stint in East field itself was 2 gates for each of the 49 bovates from March to May, and 4 gates in summer. After harvest, the pasture in West field was stinted at the rate of 10 gates for each broad bovate and 6 gates for each narrow one there; in East field the rate was 8 gates a bovate, broad or narrow. Householders and cottagers also enjoyed beast, sheep, and geese gates in the fallow and harvested fields.

The commonable lands of Bewholme were inclosed by an award of 1740 under an Act of that year. Allotments made totalled 1,043 a. They comprised 491 a. in East field, 418 a. in West field, and 134 a. in New pasture. Thomas Hudson received 358 a., and William Thornton and Benjamin Hudson 279 a. jointly. There was also one allotment of 114 a., three of 50–79 a., four of 10–29 a., and two of under 5 a. (fn. 101)

Woodland. Much of the parish was formerly wooded. In 1086 woodland 3 furlongs long and 1 furlong broad was recorded at Bewholme, (fn. 102) and c. 1150 Agnes de Arches gave Nunkeeling priory the use of her wood at Bewholme for the repairing of its ploughs and harrows. (fn. 103) Later it was stipulated that the timber be taken on four days each year under the supervision of a forester. (fn. 104) The woodland evidently lay mostly south of the priory, where later field-names have included Acorn hill, Wood nook, Woodnook closes, and Nunkeeling wood. It was reduced by assarting, which probably created New pasture, Wood leys, and Lumbert leys. (fn. 105) By 1851 the only woodland was that in several small plantations, and in 1987 no more than 12 a. (5 ha.) of woodland were returned for Bewholme civil parish. (fn. 106)

LATER AGRICULTURE. In 1801 there was said to be 645 a. under crops in the parish. (fn. 107) In 1905 there were 1,499 a. of arable land and 824 a. of grassland, and the proportion of arable to grass was much the same in the 1930s, when the grassland lay mostly around Bewholme village and the settlement of Nunkeeling. (fn. 108) In Bew holme civil parish 1,231 ha. (3,042 a.) were returned as arable land and 190 ha. (469 a.) as grassland in 1987, when more than 8,000 pigs and 1,200 sheep were kept. (fn. 109)

In the 19th and earlier 20th century there were usually a dozen farmers in Nunkeeling parish, half of whom had 150 a. or more. Two men also worked as cowkeepers from the late 19th century. (fn. 110) In 1987 of 23 holdings returned for the civil parish, one was of 200–299 ha. (494–739 a.), four of 100–199 ha. (247–492 a.), six of 50–99 ha. (124–245 a.), and twelve of under 50 ha. (fn. 111)

MILLS. Nunkeeling priory had a mill at Bewholme, (fn. 112) and former mill sites are commemorated by Mill hill and Mill close.

INDUSTRY. There has been little nonagricultural employment in Nunkeeling parish. Bricks were made in the south-west of the parish before 1852. (fn. 113) In 1968 Belmont Caravan Co. bought c. 40 a. of the former Catfoss airfield, mostly in Nunkeeling, and in 1992 its successor, A. B. I. Caravans Ltd., maintained a storage site for c. 3,000 vehicles there. (fn. 114) A light engineering workshop was established at Bewholme in 1973, moved to Nunkeeling in 1984, and was still operated in 1992. (fn. 115)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Regular poor relief was given to 7 people in 1802–3 and to c. 20 in 1812–15, when about 10 were helped occasionally. (fn. 116) Bewholme and Nunkeeling joined Skirlaugh poor-law union in 1837 (fn. 117) and remained in Skirlaugh rural district until 1935, when, as part of Bewholme civil parish, they were incorporated into the new rural district of Holderness. In 1974 Bewholme civil parish became part of the Holderness district of Humberside. (fn. 118) In 1996 Bewholme parish became part of a new East Riding unitary area. (fn. 119)

CHURCHES

Agnes de Arches gave Nunkeeling church c. 1150 to the priory which she then founded there. The priory appropriated the church in 1409; (fn. 120) no vicarage was ordained, and the cure was later served by stipendary chaplains supplied by the priory. (fn. 121) After the Dissolution the living was styled a perpetual or donative curacy until it became a vicarage following augmentation in the 19th century. A chapel-of-ease was then provided at Bewholme. (fn. 122) The benefice, later called Nunkeeling with Bewholme, was united with Atwick in 1937, with Sigglesthorne instead in 1972, and also with Rise in 1974. (fn. 123)

The advowson was granted in 1544, with the rectory, to Sir Richard Gresham. The patronage later belonged to the proprietors of the halves of Nunkeeling manor and rectory until 1761 and thereafter descended with the reunited estate. (fn. 124) In 1935 Robert Dixon transferred the advowson to the archbishop of York. (fn. 125) From 1937 the archbishop had the right to present alternately to the united benefice until 1958, when he ceded his right to the other patron, the Crown. The Crown remained the sole patron after the further unions of 1972 and 1974. (fn. 126)

From the 17th to the 19th century the sole income was the curate's stipend of c. £20 a year paid from the rectory. (fn. 127) The living was augmented from Queen Anne's Bounty with grants of £200 in 1807, 1811, and 1825, and a parliamentary grant of £200 was received in 1817. (fn. 128) In 1829–31 the average net income was £55 a year. (fn. 129) A further augmentation of £100 from Queen Anne's Bounty was made in 1859 to meet a like benefaction from Mrs. Pyncombe's trustees, (fn. 130) and in 1889 the net value was said to be £80 a year. (fn. 131)

The augmentations were used to buy 7 a. at Great Cowden, in Mappleton, in 1810, 5 a. in Aldbrough in 1812, and 5 a. in Atwick in 1821. (fn. 132) The land at Aldbrough was sold in 1968, that at Atwick c. 1975, and the holding at Great Cowden by 1978. (fn. 133) The monies granted in 1859 were used that year to build a parsonage house on land at Bewholme given by Thomas Ward. The house, too grand for the poor living, was designed by William Burges, but probably built under the supervision of William Foale, who was also recorded as its architect; it is of red brick with prominent, slate roofs and has two storeys with attics, a seven-bayed front, and a projecting stair tower. The deep, overhanging eaves with bargeboards are supported by large, flying brackets, of painted wood, and the windows have decorative stone heads. (fn. 134) The house was sold in 1961, and the incumbents later lived at Hornsea or Sigglesthorne. (fn. 135)

Nunkeeling was served with other Holderness parishes from the 18th century and curates were usually non-resident; in 1743 the curate lived at Sproatley, where he was rector. In the mid 18th century service was weekly in summer and fortnightly in winter; communion was celebrated three times a year, with up to 26 recipients in 1743 and 1764. (fn. 136) At the parish church, which was remote from most of the houses, a Sunday service was held only in summer by 1865. Bewholme school had been licensed for services in 1857, and in 1865 weekly services were being held there throughout the year. (fn. 137) In the later 19th century up to 10 people usually received at the monthly celebrations of communion, which were presumably held in the parish church. (fn. 138) William Burges designed a church for Bewholme in 1860, (fn. 139) but it was not built and c. 1875 the vicarage coach house there was converted to serve as a chapel-of-ease. (fn. 140) In 1895 adjacent land was consecrated as a burial ground, and on it a mission church, dedicated in 1900, was built to replace the chapel-of-ease and licensed for all services, except marriage. (fn. 141) In 1928 services were discontinued at Nunkeeling and the mission church became the parish church, receiving a licence for marriages in 1929. (fn. 142)

NUNKEELING. The parish church was evidently dedicated to ST. MARY MAGDALEN AND ST. HELEN at the foundation of the priory c. 1150. (fn. 143) Unusually, but as at Swine, (fn. 144) the parish church later stood east of, and adjoining, the priory church, which was removed after the Dissolution. The medieval parish church comprised chancel and nave with north aisle. The aisle was added in the 13th century, and a remodelling of the chancel then is evident from its former windows. Presumably after the Dissolution, the aisle was removed and its windows refixed in the blocked arcade. The building fell into disrepair, and by the end of the 18th century the chancel was roofless. (fn. 145) The church was rebuilt in 1810 at the expense of Robert Dixon. (fn. 146) The new church, of boulders and brick with stone dressings, comprised chancel and nave with west bell turret. (fn. 147) Some materials from the medieval building were reused, principally the north arcade which was rebuilt as a triple chancel arch. Nunkeeling church ceased to be used in 1928 and fell into disrepair; the walls of the unroofed building were consolidated by the parish council in 1987. (fn. 148) In 1992 it was unused.

The medieval church evidently had a Norman font and stone effigies thought to commemorate the Fauconberg family, all of which were refixed after rebuilding in the 19th-century church. The font was removed to a Hull church in 1939 (fn. 149) and the memorials to Hornsea church in 1948. (fn. 150) Since 1552 there has been one bell, which was rehung in 1908 and later removed to Bewholme. The plate formerly included a cup, perhaps made in 1765. (fn. 151)

BEWHOLME. The small, mission church of ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST at Bewholme was built in or soon before 1900 to designs by W. S. Walker. (fn. 152) It is of red brick and comprises undivided chancel and nave with south porch and west bell turret. The pitch-pine fittings include benches and chancel and vestry screens. It has one bell, formerly in Nunkeeling church, and a modern service of silver-gilt. (fn. 153)

The registers of baptisms date from 1607, of marriages from 1656, and of burials from 1559. They are complete, except for marriages from 1689–94. (fn. 154)

NONCONFORMITY

Up to 33 Roman Catholics were recorded in Nunkeeling in the 17th century, but there were very few later. (fn. 155) Prominent among them were Ralph Creswell, who employed a papist tutor in 1604, and George Acklam, who compounded for his estate in 1653. (fn. 156)

One protestant dissenter was recorded in 1676. (fn. 157) In the mid 18th century two families in the parish were Presbyterian, and in 1764 a few Presbyterians were said to meet monthly in a house licensed for worship. (fn. 158) The Independents registered a house at Bewholme in 1805, and it seems to have been the same congregation which obtained a licence for another house there in 1812. (fn. 159) The Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel there in 1831. (fn. 160) The chapel was disused by 1893, was reopened c. 1905, but was closed finally and sold in 1924. (fn. 161) It was later a house. (fn. 162) The Primitive Methodists built a chapel at Bewholme in 1839. (fn. 163) It was largely rebuilt in 1863, (fn. 164) and in 1868 almost all of the labourers were said to be members of that congregation. (fn. 165) That chapel became the Methodist church and was still used for services in 1992.

EDUCATION

A school opened at Bewholme in 1824 had 6 pupils in 1833, and another, begun there in 1832, had 14 pupils; both were supported by the parents. (fn. 166) A school was built at Bewholme in 1848. (fn. 167) At inspection in 1871 the Church school had 27 children in attendance, including some from Dunnington, in Beeford. (fn. 168) The building was enlarged in 1875. (fn. 169) The school was transferred in 1910 to the county council, (fn. 170) which enlarged the premises the next year; the children were taught temporarily in the parish room during the alterations. (fn. 171) From 1906 until 1938 the average attendance was usually 40–50. (fn. 172) Senior pupils were removed to Hornsea County Secondary School in 1958. (fn. 173) Pupils from Atwick were received by the primary school in 1961, and in 1990 there were 31 on the roll at Bewholme. (fn. 174)

CHARITIES FOR THE POOR

In 1630 George Acklam gave £5 as a town stock and directed that the annual income of 6s. 8d. be distributed to the poor of the parish. He, or another George Acklam, apparently replaced the gift later with 5s. a year charged on a house at Bewholme. Payment was refused after 1812 and the charity was lost. (fn. 175)

Ann Acklam (d. 1873) devised £100, the income to be distributed at Christmas. The income was £5 in the earlier 20th century but had fallen to c. £2 by 1992, when the charity had been inactive for many years. (fn. 176)