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THE

HULL QUARTERLY

And East Riding Portfolio.

Vol. I.-No. II.]

APRIL 15th, 1884.

[Price Is. 6d.

COTTINGHAM CASTLE AND ITS hardly, however, have been a castle,*

THE

LORDS.

By C. STANILAND WAKE.

HE story of the burning of Cottingham Castle, to prevent a visit by King Henry VIII., related by Tickell on the supposed authority of a manuscript about which he probably knew nothing, is too well known to need repeating here. Tickell speaks of the "large and magnificent castle, called Baynard Castle, which for many ages had been an ornament to the country in which it stood." This, with the statement, given by Oliver in his History of Beverley, that "the Manor house at Cottingham, called Baynard Castle, exhibited a fine specimen of feudal magnificence and massive grandeur," is the only description we possess of the appearance of the structure. The idea conveyed by it is very indefinite, and we know much more about the Lords of the Castle than of the building itself. Hugh, the Son of Baldrick was, at the time of the Domesday Survey, the owner of the Manor of Cottingham, but it probably came into the possession of the de Stutevills soon after that date. In the year A.D. 1200, William de Stutevill obtained from King John a charter for a yearly fair at Cottingham, with a license to build a castle there. The building had no doubt been already commenced, as in the following year William entertained the King at Cottingham, on his way from Lincoln to York. It could

in the ordinary sense of the word, as William de Stutevill then obtained a further license from the King to "fortify his Houses" at Cottingham and Buttercram. The chief residence of the de Stutevill's was at Kirbymoorside, where they had a very strong castle, and it is not unlikely that, having great influence with the sovereign, whose part they generally took against the unruly barons, they wished to have a residence near the usual route between Lincoln and York. Cuttingham was well situated for that purpose, and the Castle would at first be only a Manor House protected by mound and moat. Nicholas de Stutevill, Baron of Lydell, in Cumberland, the grandson of William, left two daughters only, and one of them, Joane, became his sole heir. Joane de Štutevill married Hugh Wac, Lord of Bourne and Deeping, and a descendant on the mother's side of Hereward, the Saxon patriot. The grandson of Hugh, was John, Baron of Lydell, to whom Edward I. in A. D. 1298, confirmed the Manor of Cottingham, and in the same. year the King spent his Christmas at Cottingham Castle, where he was gaily entertained. It was on this visit that the inhabitants of Wyk super Hull presented a petition that the town might be constituted a free borough, which was granted on the recommendation of the Great Council, then sitting at York. In A. D. 1312. John Wake was succeeded by his brother Thomas,

*The main Street of Cottingham is called Hall Gate, not Castle Gate.

*

who was a very powerful Baron during the reigns of Edwards II. and III. In 1326 Thomas obtained a license to make a Castle of his Manor House at Cottingham, under the name of Baynard's Castle, with full authority to keep it regularly fortified and provided with an armed garrison. The father in law of Thomas Wake, was the uncle and adviser of the young Edward III., and in the 13th year of this King's reign, A. D. 1340, he was appointed guardian of the sea coast in Lincolnshire against the danger of an invasion; "and having in that service many soldiers under him, for whose support he had been at great expenses, he was in consideration thereof discharged from finding such men at arms, Hobelars, and others, for his lands in Yorkshire, whereunto otherwise they had been liable." It was probably on this occasion that he kept a garrison of soldiers under tents at Cottingham Castle, having fortified the ramparts with cannon, as mentioned in the Notes made by Mr. Daniel Field, who resided at the White House now standing on the Castle site. The name " Baynard's Castle" given to the fortified house at Cottingham, would seem to have been first used in the license granted to Thomas, known as the Great Lord Wake. The origin of the name is uncertain, but it may possibly be discoverable. That noble an, during the troubles in Edward II.'s time, took the part of Queen Isabel against the King, and when the Queen's party established their authority, Lord Wake was constituted Justice of all the Forests South of Trent, and Constable of the Tower of London. Now, only a few years before, King Edward II., had built "a certain Tower in the city of London--and adjoining to the River Thames, near to a place called Baynard's Castle." This appears from Dugdale, who states that the tower was granted in 12 Edward III., to William de Ros as appurtenant to his Castle of Hamlake in Yorkshire, and it is very probable that when Thomas Wake obtained his license to fortify his house at Cottingham, he gave to it the name of the Tower built by Edward II. Some

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confirmation of this opinion may be found in the fact that the arms of Lord Ros or Roos once appeared in a window in Cottingham Church, showing that his family had some connection with the Manor.

We hear nothing more of Cottingham Castle, except the unfounded story of its destruction by fire in the reign of Henry VIII. The Manor descended through the niece of Thomas Wake, (Joane the "fair maid of Kent,") to the Holland family, who were created Earls of Kent. Edmund, the last Earl of this family, married the lady Lucy, daughter of the Duke of Milan, and on his death without issue in A. D. 1407, his widow Lucy had for her dower, according to Dugdale," an assignation of the Site of the Manor of Cottingham, with divers lands in the County of York, thereto belonging." From this reference to the Site of the Manor we may suppose that the Castle had already been destroyed. The only visit of Henry VIII. to Yorkshire was in 1541, and Leland, the Antiquary, appears to have, "in his first Iter travelled much in the steps of the King, and not long after him." Leland visited Cottingham, and he says, "I saw where the Stutevill's Castelle, dobell diked, and moated stode, of which now nothing remaynith." He adds, "at this present tyme ley four sundry meane fermer's houses, as one for each of the four Lordes, within the Castelle Garth." This refers to the division of the Lordship among the four surviving sisters of Edmund Earl of Kent, as to which Leland says "now a late King had one parte, the Countess of Soresby (Salisbury) another, the Earl of Westmoreland the three, and the Lord Poys (Powis) the four." The Lordship of Cottingham is in fact now represented by four Manors known as Cottingham Powis with Baynard Castle, Cottingham Richmond, Cottingham Sarum, and Cottingham Westmoreland. These are named after the husbands of the sisters of Edmund Holland or of their daughters. The eldest sister, Alianore, married for her second husband, Edward de Cherlton, Lord Powis. The third sister on the river Tees. This structure was erected in Henry II.'s reign by Bernard Baliol, whose descendant, Edward Baliol, obtained the aid of Thomas Wake, Baron of Lydell, to enforce his claim to the crown of Scotland.

See the Rev. Joseph Hunter's Account of King Henry VIII's Progress in Yorkshire.

Margaret, married John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, by whom she had a son, John, whose only child Margaret, became the wife of Edmund de Hadham, created Earl of Richmond. The fourth sister, also Alianore, married Thomas de Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, whose daughter Alice became the wife of Richard Neville, son of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmoreland. Richard Neville was created Earl of Salisbury in right of his wife, whose eldest son was Richard the famous Earl Warwick, the King maker. Elizabeth, the fifth sister, married William Neville, the eldest son of Ralph, Earl of Westmoreland, by whom she had a son Ralph who was the second Earl, and his nephew Ralph (son of John) was the third Earl. The second sister of Edmund Earl of Kent, Joane, married Edward de Longley, created Duke of York, but she died without issue, although she had had four husbands, and her inheritance was divided among her sisters.

There is nothing improbable in the assumption that, on the division of the Lordship of Cottingham among the sisters of Edmund Holland, the "Castle" was pulled down. Such a thing occurred in connection with the Estate of Ralph Lord Eure, who at the end of the sixteenth century built a noble mansion at Malton. His two cousins, co-he resses, disagreeing respecting the property, the mansion was pulled down, and the materials divided between them by the High Sheriff of Yorksh re, in 1674. Mr. Daniel Field was of opinion that the Manor House now standing within the castle site was built about the time of Queen Elizabeth, and he states that the oak timber, of which it is partly constructed, is very old, and has evidently been previously used. He makes no mention of any sign of its having been exposed to the action of fire, and this in itself is some evidence that the old building was demolished and not burnt. Before leaving this subject, reference may be made to Mr. Alderman Woodhouse's suggestion that Cottingham Castle was destroyed by its owner in 1399, when Henry IV. landed at Ravenspurn, to prevent his having to entertain this King. At that time the Lord of the Manor was Thomas Holland, Duke of Surrey, and

when Henry landed at Ravenspurn the Duke was with Richard II., in Ireland. He rebelled against Henry IV., and was beheaded, with the Earl of Salisbury, by the people at Cirencester; but his brother Edmund succeeded to his title of Earl of Kent and to his possessions, including the Manor of Cottingham, and there is nothing to show that the Castle itself was not then intact. It could not, however, have remained standing much longer if it was demolished on the death of Edmund in 1407, but it may have been allowed to stand until the death of his widow in 1424.

In conclusion, the following particulars of the present condition of the Castle Site, taken from Mr. Daniel Field's "Notes

Cottingham or Baynard's Castle," made in 1863, will interest the reader. The accompanying plan of Cottingham, showing the site of the Castle, taken from the Ordnance Survey map, will enable the different spots mentioned to be identified :

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No. 1. The Castle hill within the inner moat, about two and a half acres [2a. 2864 yards] or 112 yards (336 feet) each side of the square. The flat top of the hill is about 7 yards higher than the water when in the moats, and 7 yards higher than the Town Street, about 80 yards all ways.

The foundation of the Castle is found to be 75 yards in length on every side of the square. It is of very large stones, mixed with chalk stones.

No. 2. The inner Moat, 25 yards in breadth

No. 3. The Rampart, 25 yards broad at the base, and fifty years since was about 12 yards high.

No. 4. The outer Moat, 25 yards broad.

No. 5. A piece of flat ground within the Rampart to keep cattle in, and where the last Lord Wake, of the real Wakes of that name, kept a garrison of soldiers under tents, having fortified the Rampart with cannon. Mr. Field adds, in a postscript, that the soil of the moats being clay, by stopping up the drains, they would very soon fill with water; and that many old coins have been found on the premises, and particularly about the Manor House, which is about the time of Elizabeth, of

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evidence

The Rev. Charles Overton, in his History of Cottingham, states, (p. 391), with reference to the Castle, that is not wanting to prove that eventually it was consumed by fire." He does not mention the nature of the evidence, but his reference to the "picture of the burning of the ancient Castle, in the possession of the late Mr. Thompson, who built the modern Castle," seems to suggest that some evidence of the fact was furnished by the existence of this picture. There is no foundation, however, for such a suggestion, as the picture in question was one of two painted, on the commission of Mr. Thompson, by his wife's nephew, Mr. H. P. Briggs, subsequently R.A. The pictures were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1818, as appears by the first Supplement to the Penny Cyclopædia, (1851), but were destroyed by fire in London about ten years ago. Mr. Green, the artist, who had lived as a boy at Cottingham, made his first essay in painting by copying those two pictures, and no doubt his copies are still in existence. Mr. T. P. E. Thompson, Judge of the County Court, Liverpool, to whose courtesy I am indebted for these particulars, has kindly

furnished me with a copy of the printed note drawn up by his grandfather, and fastened at the back of the picture of the burning of the Castle. The following is a copy of the notice, which, owing to its associations, is worthy of being reproduced here::

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The Burning of Cottingham Castle,
Anno 1541."

King Henry VIII., on his visit to Hull in the year 1541, sent a message to Lord Wake, of Cottingham Castle, informing him that he intended to dine with him.

Lord Wake had a handsome wife, and in order to avoid the consequences of the King's visit, he set fire to h.s Castle, and it was burnt to the ground. The Castle and its fortifications covered five or six acres of ground, on the hill at the West end of the town of Cottingham, where the remains of the ramparts and ditches are still to be seen.

H. P. BRIGGS,

Pinxit Anno 1817.". Vide the Records of the Corporation of Hull. Tickell's History of Hull, &c. Cottingham, July 1818.

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