Barton-Upon-Humber is
a small market town on the south border
of the Humber, 10 miles north-east from
Brigg and 20 north-west from Grimsby,
6 south-west from Hull by water, 34 north
from Lincoln and 165 miles from London;
it is in the North Lindsey division of
the county and head of a petty sessional
division and county court district, in
the parts of Lindsey, north division of
Yarborough wapentake, union of Glanford
Brigg, rural deanery of Yarborough No.
1, archdeaconry of Stow and diocese of
Lincoln. A branch of the Great Central
(late M. S. and L) railway, 3½
miles in length, was opened in 1849, and
runs to New Holland station, and communication
is had thence by steam boats to Hull;
a new station was built in 1855; there
are also horse and cattle boats to Hull
and Hessle.
The town was governed by a Local Board,
formed Jan 9, 1863, under the “Local
Government Act, 1858”, but under
the “Local Government Act, 1894”
(56 and 57 Vict. c.73), it is now under
the control of an Urban District Council.
The road from Barton to Riseholme was
constructed in 1765. Gas works were erected
in 1846, at a cost of upwards of £3,000,
and enlarged in 1856. Water works were
erected in 1889, on a hill on the Caistor
road and an underground reservoir constructed
with a capacity of 125,000 gallons, together
with annexed buildings: these works were
subsequently abandoned, but in 1897 the
Barton-on-Humber Water Company Limited
was formed and empowered by the Barton
Water Order, confirmed by the “Water
Order Confirmation Act, 1897,” sunk
a well, 117 feet deep, in the chalk formation,
supplemented by a 12 inch bore hole at
the bottom; this well supplies a reservoir
holding 200,000 gallons, and water now
is laid on to most of the houses.
There are two churches in this town –
St. Peter’s and St. Mary’s.
St. Peter’s the mother church, is
a spacious building of stone, chiefly
in the Decorated style, with some Perpendicular
insertions and additions, and consists
of chancel, clerestoried nave of five
bays, aisles, vestry, north and south
porches and a western tower containing
6 bells, the oldest of which is dated
1666, and a clock, presented by the late
Miss. Tombleson and placed in the tower
in November, 1852 at a cost of £120.
The great feature of this church is its
celebrated tower, a short, massive structure
with very thick walls, originally of three
stages, and now 70 feet high and 18 feet
square; the upper portion of the tower
is certainly Norman, of early date, but
the architectural construction of the
lower stages is so entirely different
from that above as to lead to the conclusion
that these remains are undoubtedly Saxon
work. The two lower stages are ornamented
by strips or ribs of stone projecting
vertically from the walls and breaking
into arches near the top of each stage:
this part retains also the long and short
quoin and rib stones, with the baluster
window, for what appears to have been
the original belfry story, before the
addition of the Norman belfry: extending
westward from the tower is a small building
also apparently Saxon, with long and short
work at the angles, and windows splayed
on both sides; the east window of the
north aisle is especially interesting
from its centre mullion bearing, in high
relief, a mutilated figure of Our Lord
upon the Cross, with the Virgin and St.
John on either side; near this window
are a piscina and aumbry: the south aisle
also retains a piscina; the east window
of the chancel retains some old glass,
including two figures, one of pilgrim
with staff, wallet and book, and another
of a knight in mail and plate armour,
with surcoat and shield, each bearing
a cross. These figures appear from the
costume of belong to the time of Edward
II and represent St. George of England
and St. James the Great. There is a memorial
window to Mr. Marriott, erected in 1842;
one to the Rev. George Uppleby, vicar
from 1834, placed in 1856; to Mrs. Uppleby,
erected by her children in 1858; and to
Mr. Lunn, inserted in 1862; there are
other memorials in the church to Jane,
wife of John Shipsea, rector of Saxby,
ob. 1696; Anthony Empringham, yeoman ob.
1698; and to Mr. Cole a former vicar:
the organ, a memorial of Ricahrd Eddie
esq. was erected in March, 1856 by W.H
Eddie esq. And the Rev. Richard Eddie
M.A, vicar here 1843-5: the building was
extensively restored in 1858, under the
direction of Mr.Broderick, at a cost of
£1,400, when the nave was new roofed
and the interior reseated and generally
refitted, including the introduction of
a new organ, pulpit and font; the communion
plate includes a flagon dated 1754 and
a paten 1764: this church was again restored
in 1898, at a cost of over £2,000,
including the providing of a new organ:
there are 760 sittings.
The church of St. Mary, which stands within
150 yards of St. Peter’s and was
originally only a chapel of ease to that
church, is a building of stone in the
Norman, Early English and later styles,
consisting of chancel, with south chapel
dedicated to St. James, celerestoried
nave, aisles, south porch, vestry and
an embattled western tower, 74 feet in
height, with seven pinnacles, and containing
4 bells, the oldest of which was cast
in 1666. The most ancient portions of
the church are the Transition Norman piers
of the north aisle: the tower, south arcade
and south porch are Early English: in
the chancel is a large slab of blue stone,
with a brass effigy standing on two butts
or tuns, shield with merchant’s
marks, an inscribed scroll, evangelistic
symbols and a marginal inscription to
Simon Seman, vintner, alderman and sheriff
of London (1425), ob. August 10, 1433.
There are other inscribed stones to Richard
Harbod, chaplain, ob. 1470: William Cannon,
ob. 1401 and one to Jacob Wymyrke, chaplain
to John de Lynewode, merchant: the chapel
of St. James retains sedilia: there is
a piscina and an aumbry in the north aisle
and sedilia, piscina and a lepers’
window in the south aisle and a large
and massive oak chest bound with iron.
The organ was erected by subscription
in July 1856, at a cost of £200:
divine service was suspended in this church
during the years 1816-18 in consequence
of the precarious condition of the roof;
this have been renewed and other repairs
effected, at a cost of £1,200, the
church was re-opened in 1819. In 1883
the chancel was completely restored and
refitted, at a cost of £750; the
pulpit was presented by William Hesseltine
esq. Of Beaumoncote, in memory of his
son, and a brass lectern by Mrs. Eddie,
as a memorial to her husband: in the south
aisle is a memorial window to Ann, wife
of George Tinn, surgeon, erected in 1890;
new communion plate was given in 1884;
in 1891-2 the nave and tower were thoroughly
restored and the interior generally refitted
and decorated at a cost of about £1,500;
there are about 700 sittings. The register
of St. Peter’s dates from the year
1566, that of St. Mary’s from the
year 1569. The united parishes of St.
Peter and St. Mary form a vicarage, net
yearly value £290, with residence
in the gift of the Bishop of Lincoln and
held since 1894 by the Rev. Herbert George
Charles North-Cox.
The Catholic church, dedicated to St.
Augustine and erected in 1840, has 90
sittings: the Wesleyan chapel was rebuilt
in 1861 at a cost of upwards of £2,000;
it will seat about 1,100 persons: a Mission
chapel in connection with the above was
erected at Waterside in 1882: the Congregational
chapel built in 1806 has 400 sittings:
and the Primitive Methodist chapel, erected
in 1867, will seat 600.
Barton Cemetery, covering a space about
4½ acres, was consecrated in 1867,
and has two mortuary chapels; it is managed
by the urban district council.
The Corn Exchange, built in 1853, at a
cost of about £1,000 underwent various
alterations in 1888; the ground floor
is now used as a Drill Hall, and the upper
portion by the Constitutional Club; the
Police station, with magistrates room
was build in 1847; there is a Temperance
Hall, erected in 1843, at a cost of £700,
and seating 600 persons; and an Oddfellow’s
Hall built in 1866 with sittings for 500
persons; the Liberal Club in Queen street
was erected in 1893; the St. Matthew’s
Lodge of Freemasons, No.1447 has premises
in Brigg road.
The Literary Institute in Chapel lane,
built in 1874, consists of a large reading
room, chess room and lending and reference
libraries, containing about 2,000 volumes.
The chief trades of the town are malting,
brick and tile and cement making, and
the manufacture of chemical manures, rope
and whiting; there are also several corn
mills, a brewery and a candle manufactory.
The market day is Monday. A fair is held
on Trinity Thursday for horses, cattle
and sheep.
Charities – Long and Fountain’s
charities produce £20 a year, from
which three scholarships for poor children
are maintained at the Hull Grammar School.
In 1879, William Trippe, of Barton, left
an estate, consisting of 57a, 3r. 10p
the rents to be expended in clothing six
poor people; this devise, known as the
“Bluecoat Charity,” has an
income of about £200 yearly; 60
poor men and women are annually clothed
out of this fund, and as, by a rule of
the trustees, three years must intervene
before the same recipient can again participate,
180 poor people are benefited by this
charity every three years; secretary and
solicitor to the charity, H.R. Dix, Whitecross
street. Magdalen George of Barrow in 1729
left certain land at Barrow from the surplus
rents of which 16 grey great coats are
distributed annually, secretary and solicitor
to the charity H.E. mason, Whitecross
Street. About £50 a year, derived
from various charities, is distributed
in coals to the poor; and the interest
of £300, left by Alice Ingle, of
Chapel Allerton, Leeds in 1830, and of
£100, left by Magdalen George, of
Barrow and £200 by G.Uppleby, of
Leeds is distributed monthly in bread,
or annually in coals.
In 1840 the late Joel Tombleson, of Barton,
gave a yearly rent-charge of £5
to provide books for the Church Sunday
School and in 1861 J.Gilby Uppleby esq.
Of Leeds, left £200 for the benefit
of the National schools, and a similar
sum for distribution among the poor houses-holders,
at the vicar’s discretion.
The interest of the proceeds of the sale
of the “Town Houses” and of
the old workhouse, bequeathed by Thomas
Benton, of Barton in 1701, and the rents
of Paradise close and two acres of land
near the Haven, the bequest of Thomas
Holland, of Barton 1669, produced about
£15 yearly; by a scheme of the Charity
Commissioners, dated 3rd December, 1875,
the churchwardens and overseers of the
parishes of St. Peters and St. Mary were
appointed trustees of this charity, the
new income of which is to be applied for
the benefit of the necessitous resident
inhabitants, by providing them with clothes,
bedding, fuel, medical aid, food or pecuniary
aid in special cases, but in no case to
apply the same to the relief of the poor
rates; in 1888 Nathaniel Easton bequeathed
£150, the interest of which is distributed
among the poor by the vicar.
Barton is a town of great
antiquity: in the Domesday Survey it is
called “Bereton” and is stated
to have contained a church, a priest,
two mills of 40s, a market and a ferry
of £4 value. It was held at an early
period by the family of de Gant, of whom
Gilbert de Gant, son of Baldwin, Earl
of Flanders, accompanied the Conqueror
to England and had a grant of this lordship.
In 1359 on the invasion of Brittany by
Edward III, Barton furnished eight ships
and 121 men: in 1730 the south side of
the market-place was brunt down, and in
1762, 1768, 1817 and 1821 there were violent
storms, floods and very severe weather.
The inclosure and allotment of the parish
was effected under an Act Of Parliament
obtained in 1793, the area being then
5,920 acres, and the award of the Commissioners
was made August 12, 1796.
Barney Hall, the residence
of Mrs Holt, is an early Georgian mansion,
standing in ground of about 2½
acres. Baysgarth Park, the residence of
Robert Wright Taylor esq. Barrister-at-law,
is beautifully situated in a well timbered
park, some of the elm trees being from
200 to 300 years old; it was formerly
the seat of the Nelthorpe family, Sir
John the last baronet died here in 1799,
and is buried in St. Peters church. George
Martinson esq. Of New Hall, Goxhill, is
lord of the manor of Barton, which is
co-extensive with the parish: most of
the copyholders have enfranchised their
holdings and as the lord of the manor
offers every facility for their doing
so, the whole of the copyholds will probably
‘soon be enfranchised.’ Henry
John Hope Barton esq. Of Saxby All Saints
is the chief landowner.
The population in 1891 was 5,201; the
area of the parishes is 6,325 acres of
land, 20 of water, 695 of tidal water
and 143 of foreshore, rateable value £22,745.
By a Local Government Board Order which
came into operation March 25, 1887, the
parishes of St. Mary and St. Peter were
amalgamated and to be know as Barton-upon-Humber.
Parish Clerk, William
Cross.
Deputy, Edward Daddy.
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