HESSLE LONG AGO
From A HISTORY OF SOUTH CAVE AND OF OTHER PARISHES IN THE EAST RIDING OF THE COUNTY OF YORK BY JOHN GEORGE HALL, 1892.
Hessle is a township and a parish on the bank of the Humber, four miles west from Hull. It is alluded to in Domesday Survey as follows:- “Land of Gilbert Tyson. East Riding, Manor. In Hase Alwin and Chetel had seven carucates of land to be taxed. There is land to four ploughs. Gislebert has now there one plough and seventeen villanes, two bordars with three ploughs. There is a church and a Priest there. One mile long and half broad. Value in King Edward’s time sixty shillings, now fifty shillings.
Burton has the following reference to the parish:
“Richard the Monk gave 12 acres of land here to Gisburne Priory. Allan, son of Oionsisius de Hesell, gave pasture here for 9 score sheep with their young till one year old, which was confirmed by Robert, the Lord of Hessel.
The church was given to the priory of Gisburne, but by whom or when does not appear, yet in AD 1202, Robert Duker, parson of this Church of Hasel, recognised himself to owe to Ronald, prior and convent of Gisburne, those 20 Marks which they had paid to Pope Innocent the 3rd, for the charge of one year of this church, which was afterwards appropriated to the said monastery, and a vicarage endowed, and on 19th June AD, 1324 it was ordained that the prior and convent of Gisburne shall present one of their own canons to the vicarage when vacant, to which the vicarage the Chapel of St. Trinity of Hull, was annexed.”
In 1487, Robert Sisson, of Hessle, by his will gave two acres of land in the field of Hessle, to pay two shillings yearly for ever to the Priests and Guilds celebrating mass, and another twenty shillings yearly for a mass, and obsequies to be celebrated for the good of his own soul in the said church upon the next Holy day forever after the feast of the nativity of St John the Baptist as expressed in two indentures made for that purpose.
In 1525, William Hayton, of Hessle, by his will bequeathed to Robert Hayton and his heirs three acres of land, upon condition that he and they should for evermore cause a mass and dirge to be said in the same church, for the good and welfare of his soul.
In the year 1526, Thomas Michael, by his will, directed that the Churchwardens of the Church of Hessle should have for ever two shillings a year out of a parcel of land and meadow called Plumpton, containing about two acres, towards the perpetual upholding of the said church, and that two shillings a year should be paid yearly out of the same to the vicar of the said church “ to keep an obit for the good of his soul, upon the 6th day of April, or within the eight days following, and if he neglect the same, the Churchwardens are to enter upon the land , receive the two shillings , and cause it to be expended as above directed”.
In 40 Edward III, William de la Pole died seized of the Manor of Hessle
At this place lived Thomas le Moyne, whose descendants intermarried with the Ferribys of Ferriby, the Portingtons of Anlaby, the Anlabys of Anlaby, and the Legards of Anlaby.
The parish formerly extended as far as the western bank of the River Hull, and included the Lordship of Myton, and the site of the present town of Kingston Upon Hull, with the exception of a small portion which constituted the chapelry of St Mary, then belonging to the Knights Templar at Ferriby. Hessle Church was consequently considered the Mother Church of Holy Trinity at Hull, and this connection lasted over three hundred years. The separation was effected by an Act of Parliament in 1661.
An Act was passed in the 32nd of George III, for dividing, enclosing, draining, and improving the open fields, meadows, pastures, commons and waste grounds within several townships of hamlets of Hessle, Anlaby, and Tranby.
The population is 2810.
Charles Percy Sykes Esq., of Westella, is Lord of the Manor.
The church, dedicated to All Saints, was restored in 1869, at a cost of £8000. It has a chancel, with chancel aisles, nave and aisles, spire, two porches, and organ; the arcades of the nave and chancel , and the north and south doors, are of early English architecture; the windows of the south aisle, and the east and west windows are decorated, the remainder of the church being of the late perpendicular.
The register dates from the year 1561.
In the tower are four bells with these inscriptions:-
Chr. Pincham, Robert Wetwang, Churchwardens.”
W.W. GO, Churchwardens, 1641.”
The living is a vicarage, tithe, rent charge£30, gross yearly value £396, including 180 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Lord Chancellor, and has been held since 1884 by the Re. Arthur Kaye, M.A. of Magdalen College, Oxford.
MONUMENTS, &C, IN THE CHURCH.
On the North wall of the chancel is a small brass which was found during the restoration of the church, bearing the following inscription:-
“Here under lieth dame an percy, Wife to syr henry percy, to him bair XVIJ. children which an departed the XIX day of December the year of our Lord MVXXI on wobis soullis Jbu have mercy.”
In the floor of the nave on a blue stone:-
“He whose remains now rest beneath this stone
in social grace and filial duty shone;
God was his judgement, his discernment clear,
Ardent in his friendship and his soul sincere;
Such was’t thou, Pease Here peaceful rest thy dust
Till waked at the revival of the just.
Robert Pease Esq., Banker, son of Joseph Pease, Esq., of Kingston –upon-Hull, Merchant, died 19th March, 1770, aged 52 years.”
Within the altar rails, in a recess on a brass:-
“To the glory of God, and in memory of Joseph Robinson Pease of Hesslewood, who died May 27th, 1866, aged 76, this chancel window is dedicated by his family, Easter, 1870.”
In the Nave:-
“Within this vault are deposited the remains of Mary, the wife of James Keiro Watson, Banker, and daughter of Francis Hall, Merchant, in Hull, who died the 18th April, 1806, aged 27 years.
Also Ann Hassel, Obit 18th March, 1808, ae 33 years. Also the body of Caroline Swan, Obit 28th June, 1809, Et 27 years. Also Mary, wife of Francis Hall, Esq., and mother of the above, who died 26th Feby., 1824, aged 74 years. Also Isabella, wife of John Burstall, Esq., Merchant, of Hull, and last surviving daughter of Francis and Mary Hall, who died 2nd Sept., 1824 aged 52 years. Also Francis Hall, Esq., who died January the 7th, 1831, aged 85 years. Also Francis Hall, only son of the above-named Francis and Mary Hall, who died Nov. 25th, 1843, aged 67 years. Also the remains of Mary, daughter of the above-named Caroline Swan, and wife of Thomas Bentley Locke, of Hessle Mount, Esq., who died 7th January, 1846, aged 43 years. Also under the floor of the vestry are deposited the remains of Francis Hall-Hassell, Son of Samuel Talbot and Eunice Mary Gertrude Hassell.”
On a mural monument in the south aisle:-
“In memory of John Barkworth, Esq., of Tranby House, who departed this life on the 19th July 1815, aged 57 years, and of Elizabeth, his wife, who, on the 30th December, 1838, was, during the enjoyment of domestic intercourse, suddenly snatched from the Bosom of her family at the age of 78. This monument was erected by their children as a token of filial regard to the departed worth of their affectionate and indulgent parents.”
Under the tower is a brass with full length effigy, bearing this inscription:-
“To the Glory of God and in affectionate remembrance of Anthony Bannister, J.P., Alderman, twice Sheriff, and twice Mayor of Kingston-upon-Hull. Sixteen years Churchwarden of Hessle, who died 18th July, A.D., 1878, aged 61 years.
This brass was subscribed for by 120 of his friends.”
In the churchyard a tombstone to George Prissick, plumber and glazier, has the following lines:-
“Adieu, my friend, my thread of life is spun,
The diamond will not cut, the solder will not run,
My body’s turned to ashes, my grief and trouble’s past,
I’ve left no one to worldly care, and I shall rise at last.”