The parish of Market Weighton is situated in what was once the wapentake of Hartill, Bainton Beacon division, 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 Shiptonthorpe and Arras. Wicstun, as it is recorded in Domesday, meaning the town on the way, is situated on Ermine Street, the Roman road which links London with York. A number of historians claim that it is also the site of the Roman station Delgovicia, on the strength of the Roman coins which have been found there, though there is no evidence of any buildings that would indicate a permanent settlement. The town had become Weighton when visited by the antiquarian Leland in c1540, who describes it as “a great uplandish village”. This was some 200 years after it had been granted a market, so the epithet was presumably added to distinguish it from the other Weightons and Weetons.

At the time of the Conquest Wicstun formed part of one of the many manors of Morcar, Earl of Northumbria, along with Shipton and parts of Goodmanham, Cliffe and Houghton. By 1086 the king was lord and tenant in chief. It was later awarded to the FitzPeters, who held it for a number of generations. In 1312 it was in the hands of Sir Payn Tiptoft when he obtained a charter from Edward II for a weekly market on Tuesday and a fair on the eve, day and morrow of St. Mary Magdalen. Another charter was granted to the then owner Sir Henry Bromflete (d1469) by Henry VI for a weekly market on Wednesday, along with two fairs on the festivals of the Finding and Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The final lords of Market Weighton manor were the Londesboroughs, who lent their name to the Londesborough Arms hotel, built c1780 on High Street. According to Pevsner it is the town’s finest building.

Market Weighton is also known as the birth place of one of the tallest men in England. William Bradley, the Yorkshire Giant, was 7 feet 9 inches tall and weighed 27 stones, his shoe measured 15 by nearly 6 inches, and his walking stick 5 feet 10 inches. He was born in 1787 and, apart from a few years travelling with a group of showmen, he lived all of his life in Market Weighton. Bradley died in 1820 and is commemorated in the church by a plaque on the wall to the right of the tower arch. Owing to his exceptional size the town’s hero had a house specially built for him on York Road. It stands a short distance from his life-size statue, carved from English oak and erected in 2007 on Market Place. Giant Bradley Day has been celebrated in Market Weighton annually since 1996.

The church at Market Weighton is dedicated to All Saints. It was founded in Saxon times, but no part of the surviving building is older than Norman. The nave dates back to the 11th century and has 14th century north and south aisles, separated from the nave by arcades of three pointed arches which rest on octagonal pillars and support the clerestories. Much of the rest of the church was rebuilt during the course of the 13th century. This included the spacious chancel, though its north aisle was added in the 14th century. Chancel and aisle are separated by two pointed arches, and the aisle has been converted into vestry and organ chamber. The oldest part of the tower is also 13th century. It was heightened over the centuries and its five stages remain clearly visible. Its wooden spire was removed in 1785 and replaced by brickwork. The whole church underwent major restorations in the 18th and 19th centuries, but its plan and structure remain faithful to its ancient origins. The restoration of 1871 cost of £1500, derived from the rent of 84 acres of land awarded at enclosure specifically for repairs to the church. Over the following years the Gothic roofs were replaced and the north aisles of the nave and chancel rebuilt, together with the chancel arch.

Shiptonthorpe was originally two settlements: Shipton and Thorpe-le-Street. They were brought together to form a distinct ecclesiastical parish in 1876, the former having been a chapelry under Market Weighton and the latter a township in the parish of Nunburnholme. At the time of the Conquest Shipton existed under the name of Epton and had no church. It was only in the 12th century that construction started on the nave, followed in the 13th century by the chancel and its north aisle, along with the north chapel and the tower. The church underwent several renovations over the centuries (mid 1600s and late 1800s), which included the building of the south porch in which an early Norman door now stands, with its three simple orders and a hood mould. Several curiously carved corbels, removed from the walls during the restoration work, have been placed in various parts of the interior. The tower was heightened in the 16th century. Like its sister church in Market Weighton, it is dedicated to All Saints and is now a Grade I listed building.

Shipton is said by some to be the birth place of Mother Shipton, the medieval soothsayer. However, she was born Ursula Southill in c1487 and Shipton was her husband Toby’s surname. Other sources claim that she was born illegitimate in a cave in Knaresborough, which has become known as Mother Shipton’s Cave. All agree that she was a Yorkshire woman, was very ugly, perhaps deformed, and had an extraordinary ability to predict the future.
Thorpe-le-Street is no more than a cluster of three farms built astride Ermine Street between Market Weighton and Pocklington on a busy stretch of what is now a modern highway.

Arras is a farm on the Yorkshire Wolds Way, one of the few whose owners are willing to have hikers walk through their premises. It stands in an area known for its tumuli, which have been thoroughly excavated and found to contain human and animal remains, along with ornaments and jewellery, but no coins, weapons or tools. They are believed to be the burial grounds of a Romanised British settlement.

Market Weighton was the place where the inquisition post mortem of Anthony Pickering of the 15th generation of the Pickerings of Oswaldkirk took place in 1596. It provides the link between the family that was established in East Yorkshire and its offshoot that settled in Lincolnshire and later in London, the Pickerings of Threekingham.
As one of the larger centres of population in the East Riding, a number of Pickerings and Puckerings passed through Market Weighton without settling for any length of time. William Pickering of the third generation of the Pickerings of Howden was the only Pickering to make the town his home. He, his children and grandchildren lived there and family events took place in the churches of both Market Weighton and Shiptonthorpe.

Sources:

Market Weighton:
https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/ERY/MarketWeighton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_Weighton
https://opendomesday.org/place/SE8741/market-weighton
Bulmer’s History, Topography and Directory of East Yorkshire with Hull 1892, pp. 677-682
History and Topography of Yorkshire, vol. 2, York, Ainsty, East Riding, pp.588-592: https://books.google.fr/books?redir_esc=y&id=unEKAQAAMAAJ
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bradley_(giant)
https://web.archive.org/web/20120717012413/http://www.wicstun.com/giant.html
Church of All Saints: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1160460?section=official-list-entry
The Buildings of England, York and the East Riding, pp.608-612: https://archive.org/details/yorkshireyorkeas0000pevs/page/608

Shipton, Thorpe-le-Street and Arras:
https://opendomesday.org/place/SE8543/shiptonthorpe
Bulmer’s History, Topography and Directory of East Yorkshire with Hull 1892, pp. 707-709
History and Topography of Yorkshire, vol. 2, York, Ainsty, East Riding, p. 592: https://books.google.fr/books?redir_esc=y&id=unEKAQAAMAAJ
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1310431?section=official-list-entry
https://www.shiptonthorpeparishcouncil.gov.uk/our-community/all-saints-church
https://www.crsbi.ac.uk/view-item?i=2816