Date Added: 19/05/2008
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 cottadmin
 admincottinghamuk.co.uk

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A VERY SELECTIVE HISTORY
of

Cottingham
East Yorkshire, England.


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The Cottingham Name & Early Village History.

There is some evidence of very early habitation of the area (ie: more than 2000 years ago), namely in the form of four gold bracelets which were found locally and are now in the Gold Room at the British Museum. Two were found in Thwaite Street and two were found at Wanless Farm on Dunswell Road. This was in the 1860's (well before metal detectors) so if you fancy a treasure hunt, you've got some idea of where people have already looked.

No real evidence of Roman habitation. Pity. This would have been a longer paragraph.

A lot of Scandinavian influences locally. The Danish, for example, finally settled in Skidby after many years visiting us just to plunder, pillage and whatever else they got up to. There was probably a massive 'rave scene' here at one time.

Cottingham actually means "Homestead of Cotta's people". Now, Cotta was apparently an Anglo-Saxon tribal chief, who presumably sent all those he didn't want living on his own doorstep into this area.

By the time of the Domesday book (1086), there was a mill, several fisheries (5000 eels annually apparently) and a mill. The land was generally well cultivated. At this time Cotting was owned by the Stuteville family. This rule ended in 1215 (no male descendants) and the heiress (Joan), married into the 'Wake' family (Hugh). In 1349, another decendant, Thomas Wake died, again leaving no heir, and the manor passed to his neice (another Joan), known as the Fair Maid of Kent, who married Edward the Black Prince.

Later On.

The 'Manor' of Cottingham, which existed until the early 19th century, was fairly large, 36 square miles in all. This is probably where Cottingham got it's reputation for being the largest village in England (I don't know whether it really is - or was - or not, to be honest; any ideas, let me know). Anyway, the Manor ranged from the River Hull (presumably from Clough Road / Sutton Road / Dunswell) all the way to Raywell. This is a fair hike if you have to walk it, and I'll bet the Lord of the Manor sent somebody else if he needed to collect taxes and stuff.

The Cottingham Parish Church (St Mary's).

It seems that the church was originally built somewhere between 1316 and 1416. The nave may actually be part of the original, but the rest seems to have been re-constructed at various times.

The church had five bells at one time, but Edward IV, who must have needed to raise some cash, had an inventory done on all the churches in England. It was reckoned that Cottingham only needed four, so one was sold. They managed to raise �25 at auction. The money was split into four equal parts and given to some 'trusted people', just in case the church needed it in times to come. If you know what happened to the cash, let me know. Anyway, they now have eight bells, none of which are the originals, and the oldest of which is 17th century.

Obviously, there is much more history to the church than this, but we can't do it justice here. If anyone wants to produce text and provide a picture for a separate web-page, please let us know.

Fights and Feuds.


It seems that in the year 1391 Hull needed to get hold of some fresh water. Apparently they've always had a problem getting it, and decided to build a ditch (probably from Hull to Springhead). Now, the townsfolk from Cottingham, Anlaby and Wolfreton took exception to this, and laid siege to Hull, filling in the ditch at the same time. Unfortunately, they were driven back by the folk of Hull and although some escaped and some managed to scrape a pardon, there were also some who were despatched to York for execution.

Longbone Family Tree, etc..


If you are interested in the Longbone family tree, click here. It's a big document compiled by Bill Longbone, but very interesting, and it has some information relating to the impact of the 'Poor Laws' and the rise of New Village.

Taxes.

Taxes have almost always been raised. One of the most peculiar to my mind though, was the Council Tax of 1665 (Charles II was the boss then). The tax collected depended on the number of 'hearths' you had in the house (For those of you who associate warmth with combi-boilers and radiators, the hearth is the area inside the house where the open fire is/used to be). Two shillings per hearth, but if you only had one you were classed as being 'in poverty', and got away without paying. There was a guy called Mr Backhouse on Hallgate who had nine.
Schools.

Not a lot here at the moment, though clearly there is a great deal of history relating to schools in the area. If you would like to produce a separate page, let us know.

One thing we can tell you... In 1893 The School Board bought land opposite the church in Hallgate and built a school for 800 pupils. Cost of the building works - �8,048. Strange to think, but that would hardly cover the holiday pay for a teacher at Millennium rates.


 
Population.

The population through the ages, as you might expect, has increased. Some of the figures are shown below, the earlier the date the more of an 'estimate' the figure will be. Nevertheless, they are assumed to be fairly accurate.
 
Year Estimated Population Source
1086 130 Domesday Book
1377 1,500 Poll Tax
1801 1,927 Census
1901 3,751 Census
1991 16,067 Census
2006 17.263  Estimate
      
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References.

"A Short History of Cottingham", John Whitehouse, (1974), Parochial Church Council of St Mary's Church, Cottingham, East Yorkshire.

"Cottingham Local History Society Journals"

"Last of The Cottingham Essays", A.H.Stamp, (1993), Cottingham Local History Society.