WYTON
THE hamlet of Wyton, almost 5 km. south-east
of Swine village, was formerly favoured for
country residence by the well-to-do of Hull,
which city now lies only c. 3 km. away to the
south-west. The name Wyton, meaning the
'women's farm', is Anglian. (fn. 9) Of 792 a. (321
ha.), (fn. 10) Wyton was added to Ganstead and Bilton
civil parishes and a little of Preston in 1935 to
form a new civil parish of Bilton. (fn. 11)
Wyton had 35 poll-tax payers in 1377 (fn. 12) and
12 houses assessed for hearth tax in 1672. (fn. 13) At
86 in 1801, Wyton's population fell in the mid
century to 46 in 1871, recovered to 80 in 1881,
but then fell to 64 in 1901. Numbers then
increased sharply to 105 in 1911 and stood at
111 in 1931. (fn. 14)
WYTON hamlet. Professional and commercial families of Hull began to live at Wyton in the
18th century, (fn. 15) and by the mid 19th the hamlet
comprised half a dozen houses in ornamental
grounds grouped along the north side of the
Hull-Aldbrough road. (fn. 16) Merchants lived in two
of the houses and a clergyman's widow in a third
in 1891, (fn. 17) and the larger houses continued to be
occupied mostly by business people from Hull
in 1994. (fn. 18) Wyton Lodge, built by Thomas Ward,
a Hull merchant, to designs by J. B. and William
Atkinson of York in or soon after 1837, (fn. 19) is a
grey-brick villa with a pedimented entrance and
round-headed sashes to the first floor; its gatehouse remains as Wyton Cottage. Red House,
formerly Wyton Villa, dates from the end of the
18th century but has been greatly altered. Also
of the 18th century are Wyton Abbey and Wyton
Hall. (fn. 20) Most of Wyton was designated a conservation area in 1991. (fn. 21) In the mid 20th century
the built-up area of Bilton was extended into
Wyton by the building of bungalows along the
Aldbrough and Preston roads. The district
council added a pumping station at Wyton c.
1970. (fn. 22)
There was a licensed house at Wyton in the
1770s. (fn. 23)
MANOR AND OTHER ESTATES.
Four
carucates of sokeland at WYTON belonging in
1066 to Morkar's manor of Mappleton had
passed to Drew de Bevrère by 1086 (fn. 24) and were
later part of the Aumale fee. In the earlier 14th
century 1½ carucate there was held of the Crown
as successor to the counts of Aumale as 1/28 or 1/36
knight's fee. (fn. 25)
Most of Wyton was held by a family of that
name. Adam of Wyton, tenant of the family's
holding at South Skirlaugh, (fn. 26) presumably also
held Wyton, before W. of Wyton (fl. mid 13th
century) and Henry of Wyton, tenant in the
1280s. The estate at Wyton descended from
Henry (d. by 1305) to his son John, (fn. 27) sole or
joint lord of Wyton in 1316, (fn. 28) and from John (d.
1349) to his son John (d. 1352). The last John
left as heirs his daughters Isabel and Christine.
In the mid 14th century the holding at Wyton
comprised nearly 2 carucates of demesne and
1¼ carucate held by the Wytons' free tenants. (fn. 29)
The descent is thereafter uncertain. The estate
perhaps passed to the Constables, who were recorded as mesne lords from the 16th century. (fn. 30)
The tenants in demesne by the 16th century
were the Brighams. Thomas Brigham (d. 1542)
was succeeded in Wyton manor by his son
George, and George (d. 1576) by his nephew
Francis Brigham (d. 1597). In 1543 the estate
comprised only 6 bovates and 50 a. and was held
of the Constables' manor of Burton Constable
as 1/6; knight's fee. (fn. 31) The manor continued to
descend in the Brighams, (fn. 32) passing to John
Brigham (d. 1710), his son Roger (fn. 33) (d. by 1742),
and Roger's son William (fn. 34) (d. 1767). William's
widow Ursula and brother Gerard (fn. 35) sold Wyton
manor with 268-a. in Manor farm to Christopher Bramley, a Leeds salter, in 1768. (fn. 36) Bramley
(d. in or soon after 1802) left his son Christopher
almost 100 a., which he sold to T. E. Upton in
1805 and which was later Wyton Holmes farm. (fn. 37)
Most of Bramley's estate passed, however, to
his grandson Thomas Bramley (d. 1804), who
devised his interest to Ann Almond for life. (fn. 38)
She married Horsfall Scholefield in 1805, (fn. 39) and
as his widow had a mansion house and c. 220 a.,
mostly in Wyton, in 1822. (fn. 40) She later married
John Green (d. by 1825) and Thomas Clubley. (fn. 41)
Mrs. Clubley (fl. 1853) was probably succeeded
by John Bramley. (fn. 42) William Raines evidently
bought the manor, manor house called Wyton
Abbey, and 197 a. at Wyton and 28 a. at
Ganstead in 1865. (fn. 43) He died in 1874, and Wyton
Abbey and the 197 a. were sold to Anthony
and Matthias Nornabell. (fn. 44) The manor itself remained with Raines's heirs. (fn. 45) Susan Nornabell,
widow, had succeeded by 1899, (fn. 46) and in 1906
H. M. Nornabell sold the estate to Richard
Richardson. (fn. 47) Richardson (d. 1929) was succeeded in turn by his son W. H. Richardson (d.
1965) and grandson W. H. Richardson, who still
had most of the land in 1995. (fn. 48)
A hall at Wyton was mentioned in 1352, (fn. 49) and
the lord of the manor's brother, Henry Brigham,
was living in a house with 10 hearths, probably
the manor house, in 1672. (fn. 50) The house in which
William Brigham (d. 1767) lived was evidently
rebuilt in the later 18th century, probably by
Christopher Bramley; it is of three storeys under
a pantiled roof. Ann Scholefield lived there in
1822, (fn. 51) but by the mid 19th century it was used
as a farmhouse. (fn. 52) Called Wyton House in the
earlier 19th century and Wyton Abbey by
1865, (fn. 53) it was sold with a little land in 1967, (fn. 54)
and in 1994 was used as a nursing home.
William Raines had built Wyton Hall by 1788
on land allotted at inclosure in the early 18th
century, (fn. 55) and in 1794 he enlarged his holding
at Wyton to c. 130 a. by purchase. (fn. 56) He (d. 1798)
was succeeded by his son William (d. 1833), (fn. 57)
who sold the Wyton Hall estate to William
Meadley in 1810. (fn. 58) Meadley's devisee sold it in
1830 to R. M. Craven, (fn. 59) who already owned Red
House, (fn. 60) and William Raines, son of William (d.
1833), bought both properties in 1852. (fn. 61) Raines
also bought Wyton Lodge in 1856 (fn. 62) and the
manorial estate and a farm with 182 a. at Wyton
in 1865. (fn. 63) He (d. 1874) was succeeded by his
sisters Fanny Raines (d. 1892) and Anne
Atkinson (d. 1896), who held as joint tenants, (fn. 64)
and then by his cousins Sarah Dunn and Emma
Inman (fl. 1904). (fn. 65) After the death in 1948 of
Maud Dunn, the estate, comprising Wyton Hall,
Hall Farm, c. 300 a. at Wyton, and some 20 a.
in Preston, was sold to T. H. Swift in 1949. (fn. 66)
Swift (d. 1961) was succeeded by his partner
H. A. Swift, who sold Wyton Hall and Southfield, formerly Hall, Farm with 98 a. to J. L.
Caley in 1971; after a further sale, Mr. Swift
retained 134 a. in 1994. (fn. 67) Wyton Hall with c.
25 a. was bought in 1990 by Charles Marr. (fn. 68)
Raines's house was evidently enlarged and
remodelled soon after Meadley bought it in
1810, a third storey and a Doric porch being
added and stucco applied to the brickwork.
Arcaded, red-brick outbuildings, including a
stable block, remain at Wyton Hall, as well as
the ha-ha of its small park. After standing
empty, (fn. 69) the house has been restored by Mr. and
Mrs. Marr.
By 1190 Thornton abbey (Lincs.) had been
given land and grazing at Wyton, (fn. 70) and in 1535 a
Hedon chantry had land there. (fn. 71) Trinity House,
Hull, bought the 45-a. Manor, formerly Glebe,
farm at Wyton and Preston in 1937 and sold it
in 1945. (fn. 72) The trustees of Ann Watson's charity
of Sutton on Hull bought the 195-a. Wyton
Holmes farm in 1924 (fn. 73) and, apart from small
plots sold in the mid century, still owned it in
1994. (fn. 74)
The rectorial tithes and dues of Wyton were
bought by John Ramsden in 1681, (fn. 75) and they
later descended with Bilton manor. (fn. 76) The Revd.
William Dawnay, viscount Downe, was awarded
a rent charge of £201 10s. 6d. for the Wyton
tithes in 1842. (fn. 77)
ECONOMIC HISTORY
COOMMON LANDS AND INCLOSURE. Wyton had two open fields,
North and South fields, (fn. 78) until they were inclosed in or shortly before 1710. (fn. 79) A pasture was
stinted for cattle in the earlier 14th century, (fn. 80)
and Wyton Holmes and West croft were recorded as common pastures from the mid 16th,
when the Holmes was grazed with the fallow
field. Those pastures had evidently once been
part of the tillage: West croft included a butt
in 1556, (fn. 81) and in 1718 eleven 'lands' in Wyton
Holmes were conveyed, 'together with the gates,
whins, or furze thereunto appurtenant'. (fn. 82) In
1717, when the pasture also supported sheep and
horses, the stint in Wyton Holmes was, almost
certainly anachronistically, tied to the number
of bovates held; ½ gate in winter and a whole
gate in summer and autumn were then enjoyed
for each bovate. (fn. 83) Wyton Holmes was inclosed
by agreement in 1763. There were then 41 gates
in the 69-a. pasture. William Brigham received
42 a. and William Raines 16 a., and two other
allotments, of under 10 a., and a rent charge
were awarded. (fn. 84) Some common pasture may
have remained, a cowgate being recorded in
West croft in 1768. (fn. 85)
WOODLAND. There may have been a wood
at Wyton until 1826, when more than 700 trees
and saplings lay there awaiting sale, (fn. 86) and 9 a.
of woodland remained there in 1842. (fn. 87)
LATER AGRICULTURE. In the mid and late
19th century Wyton had 5-6 farms, 2 of which
in 1851 were of over 150 a. Fewer farmers were
recorded c. 1900 but there were again 5 in the
1920s and 1930s, 3 of them with larger holdings. (fn. 88) Cowkeeping there was recorded from the
late 19th century, and Glebe farm was evidently
a dairy unit. (fn. 89)
TRADES. Non-agricultural employment may
have included brickmaking, a Brick close being
recorded in 1733, (fn. 90) and there was more recently
a joinery workshop (fn. 91) and a garage, which was
trading in 1994.
MILL. A mill at Wyton was recorded in the
1340s (fn. 92) and may have stood north of the hamlet
adjoining Thirtleby, where Mill close was
named in 1856. (fn. 93)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Poorhouses were
maintained at Wyton, (fn. 94) where 3 people were
relieved permanently and 1 occasionally in
1802-3, and where 9-16 were on occasional
relief between 1812 and 1815. (fn. 95) Wyton joined
Skirlaugh poor-law union in 1837, (fn. 96) and the
township, later civil parish, remained in Skirlaugh rural district until 1935. As part of Bilton
civil parish, it was then included in the new
Holderness rural district and at reorganization
in 1974 was taken into the Holderness district
of Humberside. (fn. 97) In 1996 Bilton parish became
part of a new East Riding unitary area. (fn. 98)
CHURCH
There was a chapel at Wyton by
1525, when the curate serving it had £4 a year, (fn. 99)
all or most of which was probably received from
the rectory of Swine as a stipend; such a stipend
was mentioned in the 1540s and again in the
mid 17th century, when its value was £3 6s. 8d. (fn. 1)
Until its suppression, there was a chantry in the
chapel, endowed with a house and a little land
at Wyton. (fn. 2) The curacy of Wyton was held from
the late 16th century with that of neighbouring
Bilton, and in the mid 17th century also with
Swine vicarage. Wyton chapel was in disrepair
by 1663, when it was closed and parishioners at
Wyton ordered to attend Swine church instead.
The chapel was demolished soon afterwards; (fn. 3) it
presumably stood in Chapel close, between
Wyton Abbey and the street. (fn. 4)
ROMAN CATHOLICISM
The Brighams and
up to half a dozen others at Wyton were cited
as papists in the 17th century. (fn. 5) Henry Brigham
of Wyton (d. 1738) was a Benedictine monk, and
it was presumably on the family's estate there
that the Benedictines conducted a mission early
in the 1740s. (fn. 6)
PROTESTANT NONCONFORMITY
The
Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel at Wyton
c. 1840. (fn. 7) As Wyton Methodist church, it was
extended in or soon after 1957 (fn. 8) and was still used
in 1995.
EDUCATION
In 1871 children from Wyton
attended Bilton school. (fn. 9)