Beginnings
The area around Sutton upon Derwent probably lies on one of the routes linking the Roman city of Eboracum (York) to the south of the country. This route ran from York to Brough where the Humber could be crossed, bypassing the marshes to the west and picking up the road to the South.
Roman remains have been found in the Sutton area and geophysical survey of an area southeast of Sutton farm in 1997 found some evidence of a possible Roman settlement.
The first written record of the Sutton area appears to be of the river Derwent which was recorded by BEDE in the 8th Century. He notes the DERUUENTIONIS FLUVII which is from the Celtic meaning “river where Oak trees grow abundantly”.
Acknowledgements
This potted history has been compiled from the following source documents:
1. Y910.6 Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol 29 (1929)
2. York GEORGIAN SOCIETY annual report 1986
3. Sutton upon Derwent Parish Registers
4. The East Yorkshire Village Book - East Yorkshire Federation of Womens Institutes 1991
5. Y942.74 History and Topography of the City of York: and the East Riding of Yorkshire. Sheahan JJ & T. Whellan. Vol 2 1856
6. Chapters of Yorkshire History - Cartwright - 1872 (also called Chapters in the History of Yorkshire) - illustrating the County in the reigns of Elizabeth, James I and Charles I
7. The Place Names of the East Riding of Yorkshire & York - The English Place Name Society Vol XIV 1970Yorkshire DOMESDAY Place Names - Horsfall Turner
8. Encyclopedia Britannica CD-ROM
9. A History of the County of York, East Riding, Vol III - A Victorian History of the Counties of England; pp 173-9
Further details can be found at this link to Parish records held by the University of York archives.
11th Century
Apart from the tantalising Roman remains the next date that we can assign to Sutton is of a fragment of an 11th-century cross shaft found in the Church. It has, on one side, a representation of the Virgin and Child. This cross is thought to be Anglo Danish in origin and made circa 1000 A.D.
In 1066 there were two estates at Sutton of 6 carucates each.
The first estate was split into two parts with the first part, of 5 carucates, being held by Bernulf and Norman whilst the second part, of 1 carucate, was held by Segrida. The value of the whole estate was £1 16s.
The second estate, of 6 carucates, was held by Orm, Colgrim, Ulf and Game. The value of this second estate was £1
The village is mentioned in Domesday in 1086. Although there is no mention of the church this should not be taken to mean it did not exist, as several counties have no church mentioned at all, even though they were known to exist.
The village, in Domesday, is named SUDTON(e). The village name appears in various forms and spellings over the years and the consensus of it’s meaning is that SUTTON is a composite of ‘SUD’ meaning South and ‘TUN’ meaning Farm. TON or TUN in Anglian Norse and allied tongues, indicates a farmstead with a few huts within a fence circle.
In 1086; the year of Domesday; there were still two estates at Sutton. Picot de Percy held the first estate under William de Percy and the second estate was held by Niel Fossard who held it of the Count of Mortain. Note that ‘The Manor’ comprised both of these estates and was held by Picot de Percy.
It is thought that Picot de Percy was William de Percy’s younger brother and it is known that the over-lordship descended in the main branch of the Percy family – that is William’s branch – whilst the demesne lordship descended through the minor branch of the family – through Picot’s descendents. (Note: a Mesne Lord is a feudal lord who holds land as tenant of a superior but who is lord to his own tenant).
William de Percy was the Tennant–in-Chief of the first estate at Sutton but he also held other 86 Lordships in Yorkshire plus others in Lincoln, Essex and Hampshire. It is thought that the name ‘de Percy’ derives from ‘Percy’ in the Arrondissemont of St. Lo in the department of la Manche – although there are three other places called Percy in Calvados. William came over to England in 1067 and arrived in Yorkshire by 1070. He was present at the Scots campaign of 1072. He founded the castle at Topcliffe. The principal family seat was at Spoffoth. He joined the 1st crusade of 1095 to 1099 and died in the Holy Land. He (or more likely only his heart is buried along with his wife Emma and his son Alan in the Chapter House at Whitby Abbey)
In 1086 the Percy estate at Sutton upon Derwent had land for 3½ ploughs. Picot de Percy had one plough and 11 villeins had three. There were also 3 fisheries. The value of the estate had decreased from £1 16s. in 1066 to £1 in 1086. The Mortain estate also had land for 3 ploughs. Niel Fossard had one plough and 6 villeins and 4 bordars had three. The estate was worth £1 in both 1066 and 1086.
It is thought that the first Stone Church was built at about 1080~1100 by Picot de Percy.
12th Century
In the east of Sutton parish the area known as ‘Woodhouse’ was given by Picot de Percy and others to Kirkham priory sometime at or before 1135 – when Picot de Percy died. The area became known as 'Woodhouses' and a grange of Kirkham priory was established there, though it is not known whether 'Woodhouses' comprised a distinct hamlet before the grange was established
In the 12th century the second estate was apparently held by William Aguilon from William Fossard. It is supposed that William Fossard was Tennant –in- Chief at that time as the Count of Mortain died in 1090 after being banished 1088 for joining a rebellion against William Rufus.
In 1135 Robert de Percy is named as the donor of the church and the church yard contains de Percy remains though it is not mentioned whose remains these were.
The church of ST. MICHAEL is built of rubble and ashlar and consists of a chancel with north vestry and organ chamber, aisled and clerestoried nave with south porch, and west tower. The western end of the chancel may be of the early 12th century and a wide arch in its north side must then have led to a transept or side chapel. The fabric of the nave that existed at that time has been largely removed by the addition of aisles. The three westernmost bays of both arcades date from the later 12th century, thus suggesting the length of the early nave, but the south is stylistically the earlier
Sutton church was again mentioned between 1161 and c. 1170, when it was given by Robert de Percy to Whitby abbey. No vicarage was ordained, however, and the living remained a rectory
In 1164~72, The village was named QUENERSUTTONA, ~TUN
13th Century
The name ‘Sutton upon Derwent’, which, as noted before, indicates an Anglian settlement, had received its distinctive suffix by the 13th century.
A ferry (passagium) between 'the head' (capud) of Sutton and Wheldrake, was mentioned in 1218 and was presumably situated south of the village.
The medieval fishery was doubtless in the river Derwent, and the Percy’s also claimed common fishing rights in Alemar (Wheldrake) before 1218, when they were surrendered to Fountains abbey.
The village name was spelt SUTTON in 1230.
Aubrey, widow of Robert de Percy, was licensed to have a chaplain in 1232. It is suggested that a chapel may well have been located in the manor-house at this time.
The advowson of the parish of Sutton was in dispute between Whitby abbey and Aubrey, widow of Robert de Percy, in 1233, but Whitby presented in 1299 and 1305. (Note: Advowson in the 14c was the right in English law of presenting a nominee to an ecclesiastical benefice.)
The village name was spelt SUTTON SUPER DER(E)WENT(E) in 1233.
In 1240 the Nave and Aisle of the Church were lengthened.
The road from York branches in Sutton and one branch leads through Woodhouse and on towards Barmby Moor. It crosses Blackfoss beck by Sandhill bridge which is thought to be the 'Wandebrugg' mentioned in 1252.
In the Middle Ages most of the surviving woodland lay in the territory of Kirkham priory's grange at Woodhouse. In 1252 the prior and Peter de Percy agreed that each of them should take timber from different areas of woodland, but that they both should hunt and enjoy pannage in all the woods. Mention was made of the prior's croft, park, and field at Woodhouse.
A water-mill on Blackfoss beck was mentioned in 1252.
In 1260 more ‘English type’ work was done on the Church.
Robert de Percy granted a toft, a croft, and 3 acres in the parish to the rector in 1280.
‘The Park’ had been mentioned as early as 1280, when the rector confirmed a grant to Robert de Percy of two spinneys there called Parson bushes, as well as ground called 'Farneford' . ‘The Park’ is the area south of the church and Manor House.
The village name was spelt SUTTON ON DERUWENT in 1280.
Anketin Malore had a mesne lordship in 3 carucates of the second estate in 1284-5.
The church was worth £10 13s. 4d. in 1291.
Robert de Percy had licence to crenulate his house at 'Sutton' in 1293. This was presumably the Manor House.
Robert of Appleton, rector, was appointed in 1294 to manage the secular affairs of Wilberfoss priory.
The Church chancel, which is the same width as the nave, may have been rebuilt or extended in the 13th century.
The church plate includes a 13th-century chalice and paten discovered laid on the breast of a skeleton under the old floor between two of the south isle piers of the Nave opposite the south entrance door in 1927. The chalice and Paten are thought to have been made between 1250 and 1280 and the skeleton is thought to be of ROBERT de GLOUCESTER, rector of Sutton Nov 1st 1234 to ? 1299.
1299 - Robert de Gloucester was succeeded by Ralph de Wiggeton as rector.
14th Century
The village name was spelt SUTTON SUB DEREWENT in 1300
Another part of the parish was apparently known by the name Cathwaite. References to it as an appurtenance of Sutton manor occur in the 14th century;
The village name was spelt SUTTON ON DEREWYNT in 1305
The manor-house was probably mentioned, as 'Le Maners' in The Park, in 1309. It was certainly recorded in 1368. In 1309 The Park was again mentioned, and 'Farneforth' was described as a laund, or woodland clearing. The reclamation of new land is also indicated by 46½a. in the Riddings in South field, and other land lay in North and East fields. Hall Riddings survives as the modern name of closes south-east of the village
In 1314 Aubrey, daughter of Robert de Percy, was granted an oratory in the manor house.
After the death of Peter de Percy in 1315 the manor was held successively by his father Robert and Robert's wife Beatrice. By 1336, however, Peter's surviving heir Eustacia had come of age and held it with her husband Walter of Heslerton. After Walter's death in 1349 and during the minority of his son, another Walter, the manor was in the possession of Thomas Ughtred, Martin of Skerne, and Walter de Cotes until Eustacia, an idiot, died. The younger Walter died in 1367, and in 1394 livery of the manor was granted to Ralph Neville, earl of Westmorland (d. 1425), cousin and heir of Walter's widow Euphemia.
The Beck, on the southern parish boundary, was said in 1323 to flow through Cathwaite
circa 1325 the Church’s central tower fell or was taken down and the Church was substantially rebuilt. The nave was extended one bay to the west, the aisle walls rebuilt, and the porch added. There has been found in the church a mutilated carved panel of St. George and the dragon, perhaps made at this time.
In 1332 Walter of Heslerton was alleged to have obstructed the passage of boats by raising two weirs in the Derwent at Sutton.
A confirmation in 1336 of earlier grants to the priory referred to the toft which the canons had dug and built in their wood.
A water-mill on Blackfoss beck was mentioned in 1336
A stone panel found in the chancel of Sutton church, shows on one side St. George and the Dragon; George slaying the Dragon. It also shows Princess CLEODOLINDA kneeling at the right hand corner. The carving is dated to about 1340.
The abbey alienated the advowson (of Sutton Church) to John Mowbray in 1367
The church was worth £13 6s. 8d. in 1367.
There was a windmill at Sutton in 1368.
The road from York is carried over the Derwent by a bridge mentioned as early as 1396. The bridge may have replaced a ferry recorded in 1368.
The manor of Sutton included 323 a. of arable and 62 a. of meadow in demesne in 1368. Free rents were of little value, but tenants-at-will paid nearly £13 and cottagers over £2, and there were seven grassmen in Cathwaite. The total value of the manor, £35, also included a small wood called the park, a pasture in Cathwaite called 'Sonetwylwes', and a fishery.
The road crossed the Woodhouse or Foss bridge recorded in 1370.
There were 94 poll-tax payers at Sutton in 1377.
The over-lordship of the second estate later (after the 12th Century) passed to the Mauley family and was still mentioned in 1384.
15th Century
At the death in 1419 of William Mowbray's widow Margaret, who had afterwards married William Cheyne, the Advowson passed to William Ingilby, son of the Mowbrays' daughter Eleanor. It was perhaps the same William Ingilby who died in 1438 and was succeeded by his son John (d. 1456), whose heir was his son William.
In 1473 the advowson was held by the king during William Ingilby’s minority. It was presumably the same William who died in 1501.
In the first quarter of the 15th Century the present Church tower was built
Like Scoreby, the manor was held by the Nevilles after the partition of the earl of Warwick's estates in 1474 by the duke of Gloucester. On ascending the throne Richard III kept it in hand and in the 1490s it was accounted for along with Sheriff Hutton. In 1489 and later the Eglesfields were among those holding the bailiwick (estate management) of the manor.
Wilberfoss priory was licensed in 1483 to acquire land in Sutton worth £6 13s. 4d., and the former estate of Robert Hoton was granted by the Crown
John de Eglesfield, the first of that name to become possessed of the Manor of Sutton in the early part of the 16th Century, had licence to marry Joan Thompson 26th April 1495
The parsonage house was out of repair in the later 15th century.
16th Century
The church nave was re-roofed and provided with a clerestory and the chancel was re-fenestrated in the early 16th century.
In 1501 the advowson was held by John Ingilby (d. 1502)
John de Eglesfield, who was possessed of the Manor of Sutton, gave instruction in his will, dated 11th April and proved 8th May 1516 that he should be buried in the nave before the image of the Virgin. (His skeleton was discovered in 1927 lying west of the east respond of the south arcade.)
Land in Sutton worth £6 13s. 4d. which belonged to one Cathwaite was forfeited to the Crown before 1526 and granted to a succession of life tenants. In 1553 the reversion was granted to John, duke of Northumberland, and the estate was thus united with the manor.
Tithes accounted for the greater part of the church’s income and produced £14 10s. in 1535.
Glebe land and five cottages produced an income of under £2 in 1535. (Note a ‘Glebe’ is land belonging or yielding revenue to a parish church or ecclesiastical benefice).The church was worth £14 14.s. 6d. net in 1535.
The former priory estate amounted to 9 bovates in 1539 (7.10)
The former Warter priory land was granted by the Crown to Thomas Manners, earl of Rutland, in 1541.
In 1553 the Crown granted Sutton upon Derwent to John, duke of Northumberland, who was licensed to alienate it to John Eglesfield the same year.
The Marsh was first referred to in 1554, when a single tenant was stocking it. Earlier, however, it had been leased by the inhabitants at large and fed with up to 200-300 animals from April to July and 90 from August to November. The latter number included 20 belonging to the occupier of the manor and 4 to the rector, together with 2 for each husbandman and one for each grassman; there were said to be 20 or more tenants in each of those categories. The Marsh was sometimes flooded in winter.
South wood was mentioned in 1554.
Cathwaite House was mentioned in 1554.
Shortly before the Dissolution the priory let the property to Thomas Manners, earl of Rutland. After passing to the Crown, Woodhouse Grange was granted in 1558 to the Savoy hospital, London, and in the 16th and 17th centuries it was often leased by the Constable family.
Small estates in Sutton were held by Thicket priory, the Knights Hospitallers, Wilberfoss priory, and Warter priory. The Hospitallers' land was briefly re-granted to them by the Crown in 1558
The woods at Woodhouse were mentioned again in 1559
In 1563 Eglesfield (d. 1566) bequeathed Sutton upon Derwent to Sir Henry Gates, John Vaughan, John Herbert, and William Lakyn to the uses of his will. He was succeeded by his sisters Mary, wife of Andrew Milner, and Margaret Wallis, widow. The Wallis and Milner shares were acquired in 1567 and 1570 respectively by John Vaughan.
In 1568 Thomas Radcliffe, Earl of Essex, was appointed the president of the council of the North. JOHN VAUGHAN of Sutton-upon-Derwent was a leading member of that Council
In 1565 Sir William Ingilby conveyed the advowson (of Sutton Church) to John Eglesfield. It passed the next year to Eglesfield's sisters, and their shares were acquired in 1567 and 1570 by John Vaughan. The advowson subsequently descended with the manor
Thomas Wood, by will dated 1568, devised a rent-charge of £10 from an estate at Kilnwick Percy for the benefit of Sutton and many other townships.
A letter from Sir Thomas Gargrave to the Privy Council of October 1569 mentions John Vaughan of Sutton. This letter relates to the outbreak and suppression of the Rebellion of the North.
On the evening of the 7th November 1569 Sir Henry Gate was at the home of John Vaughan in Sutton on Derwent.
The name St. Loys was first recorded in 1577 and presumably derives from St. Eloy, or Aloysius.
The former Warter priory land ( granted by the Crown to Thomas Manners, earl of Rutland, in 1541) had been disposed of by 1591, when it belonged to Francis Vaughan and comprised a house called St. Loys, a close in which the house stood, and a wood. After 1591 the estate apparently descended with the manor.
The registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials begin in 1593 and are complete
1593 – the first Church bell was hung. This bell has it’s date inscribed.
In 1597 the manor was said to have 'three water-mills'. This may have referred to the number of pairs of stones in the mill.
Land formerly belonging to one Cathwaite was in the hands of the Crown in the 16th century.
Some inclosure evidently took place in the mid 16th century, for in 1605 it was recalled that John Eglesfield had taken seven closes out of the open fields and three from the common.
In the 16th Century a Clerestory was raised above the arcade walls of the Church nave
17th Century
The main range of the Manor is at least Of 17th-century origin and was timber-framed.
Woodhouse Grange in the 16th and 17th centuries it was often leased by the Constable family
In 1605 the former priory estate was in dispute between Sir Henry Vaughan, lord of the manor, and Sir Henry Lindley and John Starkey.
The church plate includes a silver cup and cover made in York in 1609 by Peter Pearson
Some Names from the Parish Registers for the 1620’s
Smith, Bouill, Hastings, Cotes, Wray, Camplogen, Vaughan, Cooke, Haddlesey, Darling, Foster, Butlor, Hutham, Marshall, Hessell/Hessle, Blanchard, White, Browne, Favour, Mitchell, Richardson.
In 1625 the Parish Register spells the village name ‘Sutton Super Derwent’.
The advowson descended with the manor, though presentations were made by Miles Dodson, by grant from Sir Henry Vaughan, in 1625
More work was done to the Church in the beginning of the 17th Century, probably by Peter Cooke who was rector for 30 years, dying in 1625.
In the church there are monuments which include a brass to Peter Cooke, rector (d. 1625).
John Favour, rector 1625-50, was a Puritan.
An entry in the Parish Register for 1634:
William son of Michael Brittan, a wandering beggar whose wife was here delivered, Baptism, 21 September 1634.
An entry in the Parish Baptisms Register for 1635 states: Bastard sonne of Elizabeth Varvite and deaf and dumb woman and as ? no htmently? Suspected
The Vaughans held the manor until 1649, when it was conveyed to Sir Thomas Fairfax.
The Church was valued at £100 in 1650.
Sir Thomas Fairfax sold the manor in 1661 to George Monck, duke of Albemarle.
Josiah Holdsworth was ejected from the rectory in 1662.
The Glebe Farm house was mentioned from 1663.
Timber was being felled in the woods at Woodhouse in the 1660s by Josias Prickett of Allerthorpe, a sub lessee of the Constables.
From the Baptism Register of 1665: Bastard Elizabeth, daughter of Mary Nuttall who clandestinly came from Shipton farm ? and not withstanding a justice warrant by ? she was sent hither again ? afterward crept in here a bore ? elizabeth who was baptized July 2nd 1665.
Two non-conformist recusants from Sutton were mentioned in 1669.
A Smallwood was mentioned in the Parish Registers in 1669.
Rector of the parish in 1669 was James Blackbeard.
In 1672 57 households were included in the hearth-tax return, 7 of them exempt. Of those that were chargeable 43 had only one hearth each, 4 had 2 or 3, and 3 had Six.
The church was said to have been out of repair in 1676 and the east window could be of that date.
A single Protestant dissenter at Sutton was reported in 1676.
A grammar school master at Sutton was mentioned in 1677.
George Monck's son Christopher, duke of Albemarle (d. 1688), left his estates in trust to several kinsmen and Sutton upon Derwent passed to one of them, Sir John Granville, created earl of Bath (d. 1701).
In the south of the township, Bank island marks an earlier change in the river's course. The 10-acre Banks close was already in 1690 'environed and compassed' by the river.
The advowson descended with the manor, though presentations were made by Christopher Store in 1698.
A single Protestant dissenter at Sutton was reported in 1676.
1683 George Smallwood & Joanna Cammis both of this town (sic) marry. A licence Jan 1st 1684.
A petty school master at Sutton was mentioned in 1698.
In the church there are monuments which include a tablet to James Blackbeard, rector (d. 1698).
The common meadows in the late 17th century included Town, Stock, and Grass carrs, Kirk ing, and Town Norlands or Northands. Of the common pastures, in the late 17th century the rector had cow-gates in South wood and ox-gates in Wynam Bottom. In Woodhouse two men occupied their own moors or commons, but the rector was entitled to take turves there.
A fishery belonging to the manor continued to be recorded in the 17th century and later
In the late 17th and 18th centuries the glebe comprised 4 bovates, or 16 a., of open-field land, about 10 a. of meadow, 20 gates in the commons, and 6 cottages
18th Century
The most noteworthy of the 18th- and 19th-century cottages and farm-houses are Derwent and Glebe Farms; both have internal chimney plans and may be of the late 17th century in origin.
By the 18th century commons were restricted to the southern parts of the township, where they included South wood.
The river Derwent was improved for navigation in the early 18th century, but the cut and lock near Sutton mill are on the Elvington bank.
There was at least one alehouse in Sutton in the early 18th century and two or three licensed houses later in the century.
Early in the 18th century the walls of the Manor were rebuilt in brick, and later in the same century a wing was added on the west.
The riverside meadows included several used in common. Others were inclosed and in the early 18th century there were a dozen of them, including the Mask or Marsh, the Swallow, the Dimple, and Wildgoose hill. The last-named no doubt indicates the winter use made by wildfowl of the flooded ings, as in Wheldrake.
The name ‘SWALLOW’ is connected to Old English SWALG –a gulf, a pit or a whirlpool. It may be a reference to “a mill called SWALEWE” it is a nickname for a mill ‘the devourer’ or the like.
The hospital was dissolved in 1702 and its property reverted to the Crown. The Coore family were lessees in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Sir John Granville's grandson W. H. Granville, the 3rd earl, died in 1711 without issue and his estates passed to his aunts Catherine Peyton, Grace Carteret, and Jane Leveson-Gower.
Thomas Wilberfoss (d. 1722) bequeathed £2 a year for the poor out of either Browney Hill close or 2 a. of meadow in West carr.
The church plate includes two pewter plates dated 1723, and plated flagon and paten.
The Glebe Farm house (mentioned from 1663) was rebuilt in 1726.
Salmon-poaching at Sutton was alleged in 1729.
In 1731 Grace and Jane's son John Leveson-Gower, created Earl Gower, conveyed the manor to Sir Thomas Clarges (d. 1759).
1st Earl of St. Vincent started as John Jervis in 1735.
There were 40 families in the parish in 1743.
The rector was resident in the 18th and 19th centuries, but he was also curate of Wilberfoss in 1743.
Two services were held at Sutton each Sunday in 1743, and Holy Communion was celebrated, 4 times a year, with 52 communicants the previous Easter.
Schoolhouse garth was recorded in 1749.
There was only one service a week held at Sutton in 1764.
The rector, John Sarraude also held Elvington rectory in 1764.
There were 38 families in the parish in 1764.
There were three bells in the church in 1764.
The Glebe Farm house (mentioned from 1663 and rebuilt in 1726) contained three main ground-floor rooms, service rooms, and seven bedrooms in 1764.
There was a Roman Catholic family in the village in 1764.
The tithes of Sutton township were commuted at the enclosure in 1776 for 194a. 2r. 33p of land and a yearly modus of £58. 4s but the Woodhouse estate was still tithable.
Final inclosure took place in 1777.
Two of the Woodhouse farm-houses, together with St. Loys, already existed before inclosure in 1777.
Sir Thomas Clarges's grandson Sir Thomas (d. 1783) was awarded 752 a. at inclosure in 1777.
By the later 18th century the remaining open-field land lay in High, Prickett Gate, Stone Breach or Breck, and Moor Land fields. The open fields and common meadows and pastures were inclosed in 1777 under an Act Of 1776. A total Of 780 a. were allotted and there were stated to be 1,618 a. of ancient inclosures in the township, c. 200 a. of which were the subject of exchanges under the award. Allotments of 54 a. were made from Prickett Gate field, 61 a. from Stone Breck field, 56 a. from High field, and 57 a. from Moor Land field. Allotments from the meadows comprised 34 a. in Low grounds, 5 a. in the carr, and 6 a. in Northlands, and those from the common pastures amounted to 177 a. in the moor, 208 a. in South wood, and 122 a. in Wynam Bottom. Sir Thomas Clarges as lord of the manor received 752 a. of new and 14 a. of ancient inclosures, the rector got 185 a. of ancient inclosures, and Robert Wilberfoss got 30 a. all told.
For those in Sutton township, together with the glebe, the rector received an allotment of 185 a. and rent-charges of £58 4s. 5½d. at inclosure in 1777.
A house (or barn) was licensed for worship in 1784.
At Woodhouse there were two farms, of 505 a. and 663 a., in 1785; each included much land described as 'common', but there was little woodland.
The Methodists had 13-29 members in Sutton in 1789.
The 1st Earl of St. Vincent (who started as John Jervis in 1735) distinguished himself at sea in the Mediterranean, winning the battle of St. Vincent in 1797.
Burials from the Burials Register in 1799 were:
Age Distemper
1 year Scarlett Fever
18 years Consumption
59 years Fall from a house
63 years Fever
78 years Natural Decay
86 years Natural Decay
7 months Dysentery
31 years Child Bed
24 years A venereal disorder
77 years Natural Decay
Other deaths at the end of the 18th Century from the Burials Register were from:
Fits, Decline, Cancer, Asthma, Dropsy, Scrophula, Sudden Death, Rhumatism, Inflamation, Mortification, Paralytic Stroke, Fever in the Brain.
The church nave roof was probably renewed in the 18th century.
Manor Farm dates from the 18th century.
19th Century
The hospital (dissolved in 1702 when its property reverted to the Crown) was leased by the Coore family in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
The rector, John Sarraude also held Elvington rectory and Coleby (Lincs.) at his death in 1800.
The population in 1801 was 274.
There were 1,084 a. under crops at Sutton in 1801, including 387 a. of oats, 202 a. of turnips or rape, and 186 a. of wheat.
A Sutton dealer used the river in 1807.
A house (or barn) was licensed for worship in 1815.
The Methodists had 13-29 members in Sutton in 1816
There was a school with 33 pupils in 1819
A house (or barn) was licensed for worship in 1820
There was said to be a Methodist chapel in the village in 1823
By 1823 the Cross Keys and the Ram's Head were in existence.
Another Sir Thomas Clarges (d. 1834) had 1,955 a. in Sutton in 1823.
A school was begun in Sutton in1824
The mill was rebuilt in 1826-7 following a fire the grinding floor was divided into 'the flour mill end', 'the corn mill', and 'the country mill end'. Then and later the mill had seven pairs of stones, two water-wheels, and in adjoining buildings a granary, a drying kiln, and a shelling mill.
In 1824, 5s. a year was distributed in Sutton
The Church’s average annual income in 1829-31 was £509 net
Three houses (or barns) were licensed for worship in 1830
A house (or barn) was licensed for worship in 1831
The population was 417 in 1831
The school (begun in 1824) had 60 pupils in 1833, when it was partly supported by Sir Thomas Clarges and the rector, Clarges also providing a house.
No manorial records and no parochial records before 1835 are known.
Sutton joined Pocklington poor-law union in 1836
A Wesleyan chapel was said to have been built in 1838
The Ram's Head was replaced by the Clarges Arms by 1840
Some repairs to the church were carried out in 1841, when the chancel arch and the porch were rebuilt and the chancel roof may have been renewed
At Woodhouse in 1844 arable amounted to 460 a., grass to 232 a., heath to 122 a., and wood to 168 a., and roads and wastes covered 87 a.
The tithes of Woodhouse were commuted for £160 in 1844
A new school building was erected in 1844 supported by subscription
A house (or barn) was licensed for worship in 1846
The north aisle of the Church was rebuilt in 1846
There was a brickworks at Woodhouse in the 1840s and 1850s.
An area of rough pasture at Woodhouse was known as the Warren in 1850
There was a landing-place on the river in Sutton, near the bridge, in 1850.
The later water-mill was on the Derwent. An 'old mill race' was shown crossing the meadow called the Dimple in 1850, but there is no evidence of a mill there and it is likely that Sutton mill has for long stood on its present site, south of the bridge
An annual government grant for the school was first received by 1850
In the 19th and 20th centuries there have usually been a dozen farms in Sutton township and 2 in Woodhouse. In 1851 2 of those in Sutton were of Over 300 a. and 6 over 150 a., while of the 3 in Woodhouse that year one exceeded 500 a. and one 200 a
A Wesleyan chapel (said to have been built in 1838) was in use in 1851
A fisherman was among the inhabitants in 1851. There were salmon 'hecks', or gratings, beside the water-mill in the 19th century. Other men in non-agricultural employment included a lime and coal merchant (who was also the miller) and a timber merchant in the early 19th century
William Massey (d. c. 1849) bequeathed £10 for the poor and in 1854 his executors paid over the money to the rector and churchwardens
The Glebe farm house was rebuilt in 1854-5 to designs by John Bownas and William Atkinson of York; it is a substantial symmetrically-planned building of brick and slate
The rectory house was rebuilt in 1855
In 1856 the Parish included the Hamlet of Woodhouse
In 1856 the parish contains 3360 acres and 367 inhabitants of which 42 are in Woodhouse
The rateable value in 1856 is £ 3271
In 1856 the entire township except 42 acres belongs to Rd. Goddard Hare Clarges Esq - the Lord of the Manor
The living in 1856 is a rectory valued at £14. 14s. 7d in the patronage of the Lord of the Manor in incumbancy of Rev. Geo. Rudston Read
Although the tithes of Sutton township were commuted at the enclosure in 1776 for 194A. 2R. 33p of land and a yearly modus of £58. 4s; the Woodhouse estate was still tithable in 1856
The living in 1856 is returned at the nett value of £509 per annum
In 1856 there were three bells in the church
In 1856 the very extensive flour mills were in the occupation of Mr. Joseph Hatfield
It was noted in 1856 that the springs in the place were strongly impregnated with iron
In 1856, the Manor House which is the residence of Mr. John Peston, is an ancient brick building close to the church nearly covered with ivy
In 1856 the poor parishioners have 40s a year (left by Thos. Wilberfoss in 1722 – a resident of Sutton) and 5s per annum from Wood’s charity
In 1856 Woodhouse hamlet contained 1070 acres which belonged to the crown
From the Clarges family the manor passed in 1857 to C. R. J. Jervis, subsequently Viscount St. Vincent (d. 1879).
Monuments in the church include a tablet by Skelton of York to George Beal, d. 1857
In 1859 the average attendance at the school was 44. The school was united with the National Society.
A chapel was registered by the Primitive Methodists in 1861
The rector employed an assistant curate in 1865
There was two services a week in 1865, when about 12 people attended communion 6 times a year.
In 1865 there were c. 12 Wesleyans but no place of worship
Communion was celebrated monthly in 1868
From at least 1872 to 1905 the publican at the Clarges, later the St. Vincent, Arms was also a brewer
A 'meeting-house' was used by the Wesleyan’s in 1872 (this was presumably the chapel registered by the Primitive Methodists in 1861)
The local school (established in 1824 and rebuilt in 1844) was added to in 1873
The chapel (registered by the Primitive Methodists in 1861) was deregistered in 1876
The Ram's Head (replaced by the Clarges Arms by 1840) was renamed the St. Vincent Arms by 1879
The St. Vincent Arms has pseudo black beams made from railway sleepers
An iron Wesleyan chapel was built in 1882
Opposite the junction with Whynham lane was the Wesltyan Chapel. A temporary iron structure built in 1882 (standing until 1937 within the gardens of wheelwright house).
The Church’s annual net income was £468 in 1884
The population was 299 in 1891.
Sutton joined Pocklington rural district in 1894
The income from a £ 2 a year bequest of Thomas Wilberfoss (d. 1722) for the poor out of either Browney Hill close or 2 a. of meadow in West carr was distributed in bread in the late 19th century
In the 19th century the manorhouse, close to the church, was often called Manor Farm, and the lords of the manor usually lived at Sutton Hall, or Sutton Farm, an isolated house south of the village.
There was an agricultural implement maker in Sutton in the late 19th century
A modus of 1s. 6d. was still paid, however, for the tithes of Bank island in the 19th century.
20th Century
The Stubbs family bought the house from the Earl of St. Vincents heirs early in the 20th
The irregularly-shaped parish covers 3,681 a., of which Woodhouse accounts for 1,229a.
A cut was made across the neck of a sharp meander in the river near the village in the 20th century.
The population stood at 313 in 1901.
In 1905 there were 2,274 a. of arable, 1,123 a. of grass, and 113 a. of woodland
The school was enlarged c. 1906. Attendance stood at 40-50 in 1906-14.
The Church’s net income was £366 in 1915
Communion was celebrated weekly in 1915
Glebe Farm, with 194 a., was sold to Lord St. Vincent in 1919
The churchyard was enlarged in 1922
The school attendance fell after the First World War but reached c. 50 in 1926 and 1931, falling to 38 later in the 1930s.
A major restoration of the church took place in 1926-8, when the vestry was added, some walls rebuilt, the nave roof restored, and many new fittings put in
In 1927 the skeleton of John de Eglesfield, the first of that name to become possessed of the Manor of Sutton in the early part of the 16th Century was found lying west of the east respond of the south arcade
In 1927 also found was the skeleton of Robert de Gloucester with the chalice and paten
The Manor estate comprised 2,432 a. in 1929.
A motor garage and refreshment rooms appeared in the village in the 1920s and 1930’s
A village hall was built in 1929-31.
The population fluctuated in the 20th century, failing as low as 270 in 1931
An iron Wesleyan chapel (built in 1882) was deregistered in 1937
The Weslyan Chapel (a temporary iron structure built in 1882) was removed in 1937 from within the gardens of wheelwright house and sold to became the village hall at Bishop Wilton
In the 1930’s 8 farms in Sutton and one or two in Woodhouse were of 150 a. or more
In the 1930s and later, arable land mainly occupied the higher ground and there was still extensive grassland alongside the Derwent and the becks.
The hall was sold by Lord St. Vincent to Ena Meadowcroft in 1947
The Manor estate comprised some 2,432 a. of which about 500 a. were sold by R. G. J. Jervis (b. 1905), 7th Viscount St. Vincent, in 1947
Another 1,744 a. of the Manor estate was sold in 1948 to the Crown, which already owned Woodhouse Grange.
Since 1953 98 a. of woodland, mostly in Sutton wood, have been managed by the Forestry Commission
Senior school pupils were transferred to Pocklington in 1955
The mill was used until 1960 and subsequently became derelict
Henry Frederick, Baron Hotham (d. 1967), owner of the Kilnwick Percy estate, redeemed the rent-charge in 1961 and £10 stock was subsequently assigned to Sutton
The former Warter priory land apparently descended with the manor and in 1964, comprising 159 a., it was sold by the Crown to T. E. Almond. The house stands near a prominent moated site
The Cross Keys closed c.1970
1970 - Sutton is in HARTHILL Wapentake WILTON BEACON Division
The population fluctuated in the 20th century but reached 353 in 1971.
The advowson (of Sutton Church) descended with the manor and Viscount St. Vincent still held it in 1972
Since 1972 the rector of Elvington has been curate-in-charge of Sutton
In 1972-3 the combined income of the three charities was £1 from £13 stock; money was given to two persons
A newly-built public house on the site of the old Cross Keys was opened in 1974 as Turpin's Tavern.
In 1974 there were 20 council houses, about 10 houses built by the Crown (mostly in the 1950s).
Woodhouse Grange (which comprised 1,168 a. in 1785) still belonged to the Crown in 1974
Sutton became part of the North Wolds district of Humberside in 1974.
In 1974 a church service was held most Sundays
There were three bells in the church in 1974: (i) 1593; (ii) 1637; (iii) 1842, Thomas Mears of London
The number on the school roll in January 1974 was 30
The Manor House is a grade II listed building and stands next to the church. In the Manor yard there was a CHALYBEATE (impregnated with Iron salts) spring called Monks Well