The parish of Howden is situated in what was once the wapentake and liberty of Howdenshire, part of the historical East Riding of Yorkshire (see maps in Introduction). Before the 1832 parish boundary changes it included the sub-parishes and localities of Asselby, Balkholme, Barmby on the Marsh, Barnhill Hall, Belby, Boothferry, Carr House, Cotness, Duncotes, East Linton, Howden Grange, Howdendyke, Kilpin, Kilpin Pike, Knedlington, Laxton, Metham, New Fields, New Land, Nova Scotia, Saltmarshe, Sand Hall, Skelton, Staddlethorpe, Thorpe, Thorpe Lidget, West Linton and Yokefleet.

Before the Conquest the manor and church of Howdenshire belonged to the monastery at Peterborough, but they were confiscated by Edward the Confessor for non payment of Danegeld. After the Conquest William I awarded both entities to the Bishop of Durham, who retained the manor for his office but gave the church to the prior and monks of the monastery of Durham. In the 12th century Bishop Hugh du Puiset created manors in the lands of Howdenshire, and at the same time awarded tofts in the town of Howden to the lords of these manors. Over time the lords acquired further holdings in the town, no doubt drawn to the opportunities offered by being the location of the only market in the area. The Metham family were by far the largest landowners in the 13th century, extending their holdings in the 14th century through the absorption of the prior of Durham’s smaller manor. These acquisitions later became known as Metham manor, which the family retained until the 1620s. By then Howden had become a trading and administrative centre, prompting the families that benefited from this situation to acquire small rural estates in the surrounding villages.

The manor of the Bishop of Durham existed as a continuous entity alongside this two-way acquisition of lordships and estates, though its history was a chequered one. Although it always returned to the bishops, it was seized under William Rufus, demised to Queen Elizabeth I and forfeited to the Commonwealth, until it finally became part of the bishopric of Ripon in 1846. There is documentary evidence of the bishop’s manor house in the Pipe Rolls dating back as early as 1130, and some 12th century remains were revealed during the major excavations of the 1980s. The house was a favourite residence of many of the bishops and, around the turn of the 15th century, it was decided to replace it by a prestigious manorial complex with a park and fish ponds. However, by 1561 the complex had been abandoned and gradually fell into decay, the removal and sale of the roof lead accelerating the process. The hall of the manor house was only saved from total destruction in when it was leased to a local family, who transformed it into a private house in around 1680. Further leases ensued and more alterations were made in the 1700s – its external appearance was changed completely by lowering the roof – before it was eventually given to the town of Howden in 1927. The house suffered more decay and damage by fire until it was listed a Grade II* historic monument in 1977. All that remains today of the medieval manorial complex are Bishop Langley’s gate, part of the courtyard wall, Bishop Skirlaw’s porch and the transformed hall. The latter is now known as the manor house and is a clearly visible mix of the vicissitudes of time. It is currently used as a venue for public and private events.

The minster church at Howden is dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. The original Saxon building was said to have occupied the site of a pagan temple, though nothing remains of it. The present building was started toward the end of the 1200s, the west front being finished around 1300 and the choir some 20 to 40 years later. It was around this time that work began on the chapter house, though this was only completed in the 1400s, when the upper part of the tower was also added. Both these measures were at the instigation Bishop Skirlaw, a great benefactor to Howden, who also built the hall.

The church was initially a parochial rectory, but in 1267 Archbishop Giffard of York, recognising the size and wealth of the parish, ordained that it become collegiate and that the five localities of Howden, Thorpe, Saltmarsh, Barmby and Laxton should provide prebends for the canons, whose duties were to keep the chancel and choir in good repair and to provide bread, wine, bell ropes and hospitality. In 1279 Skipwith was ordained to provide a sixth prebend. This arrangement came to an end in 1547, when the collegiate establishment was dissolved and taken over by the Crown and it became a parish church with a vicarage. In 1592 most of its revenues passed into private hands, but its new owners did not fulfil their duties regarding the maintenance of the church, marking the beginning of a long period of neglect. By 1635 the chancel and choir had decayed to such a point that it was no longer safe for the holding of services. These took place in the nave instead, which had been repaired and re-roofed by the parishioners. Further damage was caused by the Parliamentary troops, who used the church as a stable and, according to the legend, the organ pipes as whistles as they marched out of Howden to lay siege to Wressle Castle in 1644. The roof of the chancel and choir finally collapsed in 1696 and so it was left until 1748 when the site was cleared, the townsfolk using the masonry as building stone. This was followed by the collapse of the roof of the chapter house in 1750. Both these major elements of the church remain today as ruins, despite a plan to restore the chancel and choir to their former glory during the renovations of the early 1850s, though chapter house was roofed in 1984 to preserve its stonework. To compound the misfortunes of the church, during the Horse Fair of 1929, a fire was lit in the tower by a band of drunken intruders. It destroyed the modern choir and, in an attempt to put out the fire, the new organ was also destroyed. Major restoration work was necessary, which was completed in 1932.

There were Pickerings in Howden in the early 1540s when the parish registers started, suggesting that they had already been settled in the parish for some time. They remain will unposted until I can connect them with a later Pickering family. The Pickerings of Howden appeared in the parish two hundred years later and lived in the area up until the 2010s but seem to have died out in the male line. A more tenuous link between the Pickerings of Holderness and Howden is the marriage of my paternal grandfather Richard Alexander (26th generation) to Mabel Elsie Coultish, who had the dubious honour of being born in the Howden Union Workhouse in 1884.

Laxton, whose name probably derives from the Middle English word for salmon, that were plentiful in the river Ouse at the time, is a classic example of a Howdenshire village. Its current boundaries are defined by the drainage ditches that were dug in the 12th century, but the village had been established well before then. The tenant-in-chief in 1086 was the bishop of Durham and, as seen above, he created manors in his lands in Howdenshire, so that by the Middle Ages this small settlement contained no less than four, known as the Metham, Sothill, Hotham and Pennythorpe manors, with Manor Farm and Hall Farm surviving today as reminders of the subdivision. Most of the farms of these manors had come into the hands of the Saltmarshes by the mid 1800s and remained so until 1971 when the family died out in the male line. However, Chapel Farm was held by the agricultural branch of the family I have called this Pickerings of Barlby, who had a much larger presence in Laxton than in Howden, though both branches were probably related. A succession of John Pickerings who appear in the first four generations of the family made up the agricultural branch, holding not only Chapel Farm, but also for a time Manor Farm. They were followed by the fourth John’s son Matthew of the 5th generation, but he died childless in 1688, leaving his estate to his cousin, another John. This John’s son Thomas became a grocer in Selby, marking the end of the agricultural branch after six generations, and indeed the Laxton branch of the Barlby Pickerings, as Thomas had no issue and sold Chapel Farm in 1715. Thereafter the farm passed through various hands until it was eventually acquired by the Saltmarsh family in 1898. By the time the Saltmarsh estate was sold in 1992 the farm had changed its name and been divided into two entities, Church Farm North and Church Farm South, but the surface area of the holding still remained the same as in 1688.

A chapel was already in existence at Laxton in the mid 1200s, it was mentioned in documents dating back to the 1500s and it was renovated in 1625, apparently by three sisters called Dore or Dorey, though no contemporary record of their good deed has survived. By 1769 it was dilapidated and a public appeal for funds resulted in its partial rebuilding. The chapel also received legacies to maintain a preaching minister, one of the benefactors being Matthew Pickering. He also created the Pickering Charity at nearby Skelton to enable poor boys to obtain apprentices; it still exists to support local young people embarking on further education. All that remains of the chapel today is the stone chancel with its east window in the decorated style, a small gothic north window and a much altered south window, the chapel’s brick nave and tower having long since disappeared. Services now take place in the new church, dedicated to St. Peter and built between 1875 and 1876 across the road from the chapel and graveyard.

Sources:

Howden:
https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/ERY/Howden
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howden
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howdenshire
https://opendomesday.org/place/SE7428/howden
Victoria History of the County of York, East Riding, vol. 10, part 2, Howden: Town and Liberty (not online)
History and Topography of Yorkshire, vol. 2, York, Ainsty, East Riding, pp.594-610: https://books.google.fr/books?redir_esc=y&id=unEKAQAAMAAJ
Bishop’s manorial complex: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335025912_Article_6_-_Survey_and_Excavation_at_the_Bishop’s_Manor_House_Howden
Bishop’s Manor House: http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_north/106/howdenmanor.htm
Howdenshire History: http://www.howdenshirehistory.co.uk/index.html
Minster Church of St. Peter and St. Paul and Chapter House: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1160491?section=official-list-entry
https://web.archive.org/web/20070214025653/http://www.howdenminster.net

Laxton:
Victoria History of the County of York, East Riding, vol. 10, part 1, Howdenshire Townships (not online)
History and Topography of Yorkshire, vol. 2, York, Ainsty, East Riding, p.608: https://books.google.fr/books?redir_esc=y&id=unEKAQAAMAAJ
https://media.onthemarket.com/properties/3765544/482635465/document-0.pdf
http://www.spanglefish.com/laxtonparish/index.asp?pageid=272143