Sewerby is a village in the
East Riding of Yorkshire
The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...
, England approximately north-east of
Bridlington
Bridlington is a coastal town and a civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is about north of Hull and east of York. The Gypsey Race enters the North Sea at its harbour. The 2011 ...
on the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...
coast. The village is on Bridlington Bay and is the only south-facing resort in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
Sewerby forms part of the
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...
of
Bridlington
Bridlington is a coastal town and a civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is about north of Hull and east of York. The Gypsey Race enters the North Sea at its harbour. The 2011 ...
, though between 1854 and 1935, it was in its own parish with nearby Marton and
Grindale
Grindale is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately north-west of Bridlington town centre.
The village has an airstrip, which is used predominantly for skydiving. It is currently opera ...
. Sewerby is home to one of the East Riding's most popular tourist attractions,
Sewerby Hall
Sewerby Hall (also known as Sewerby House) is a Grade I listed Georgian country house set in of landscaped gardens in the village of Sewerby, from the seaside town of Bridlington in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.
The main block was bu ...
. The hall is a Grade I
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
and is home to the Museum of East Yorkshire, including a room dedicated to the aviator,
Amy Johnson
Amy Johnson (born 1 July 1903 – disappeared 5 January 1941) was a pioneering English pilot who was the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia.
Flying solo or with her husband, Jim Mollison, she set many long-distance records du ...
.
The church dedicated to St John the Evangelist was designated a Grade II*
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
in 1976 and is now recorded in the
National Heritage List for England
The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...
, maintained by
Historic England
Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...
.
History
Sewerby is mentioned in the ''
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...
''; "In Siwardbi, Carle and Torchil had two manors, of six carucates and a half. It is now waste." This indicates the origin of the name: It was the (by) abode of Siward. (This is a
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
personal name, and one who bore it was the Governor of Northumbria). And, that Sewerby had two manors which were owned by Carle and Torchil, though no subsequent reference deals with more than one. And finally, that after
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
put down the English revolt in 1069, much of the land was now waste.
The two manors, formally owned by Carle & Torchil, were passed down in 1086 to Robert Count of Mortain and the Earl of Cornwall, the half-brother to William the Conqueror. Though, in the year 1088 Count Robert had his estate confiscated. There is no record of the fate of Robert's under-tenant, Richard de Surdeval, though it is possible his family survived as the de Sywardbys, using the name of the village.
![Sewerby Hall (41569921825)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Sewerby_Hall_%2841569921825%29.jpg)
The estate of Mortain passed to the Paynel family and then on to the archbishops of Canterbury. The land was held for them by the Meynells. The Meynells then granted land to Osbert de Sywardby sometime in the 1170s.
The de Sywardbys appear to have owned most of the land around Sewerby and Marton. Their position strengthened by marriages with the de Martons and the de Bucktons, and during the 14th century, three generations of the de Sywardby family were knighted.
In 1234 Robert de Sywardby held three carucates of land with William de Sywardby holding four carucates by 1299. Robert of Sewerby was lord of the manor in 1316 and the family held it until the death of William de Sywardby in 1452. Williams's daughter held the land until her son sold the land to Ralph Raysing in 1545 and so the estate finally passed out of the hands of the descendants of Osbert de Sywardby after nearly 400 years. In the same year Raysing also bought other properties in Sewerby. Raysing held the land until 1567 when he sold it to John Carliell.
The Carliell family held the land until 1714 when it was sold to John Graeme. John Graeme was actually living in the manor house when he bought the land. It is said that John and his son Robert made their fortunes by acting as agents for a Lady Boococke, a considerable landowner in Bridlington. Sewerby House was almost re-built by John Graeme between the years 1714 and 1720, when ten houses were demolished to improve the grounds of the estate. There are however traces of the old house still to be seen inside the hall, most notably the Tudor doorway in the basement.
An
enclosure act
The Inclosure Acts, which use an archaic spelling of the word now usually spelt "enclosure", cover enclosure of open fields and common land in England and Wales, creating legal property rights to land previously held in common. Between 1604 and 1 ...
of 1802, divided up the land around Sewerby and Sewerby Hall, which was further refined in 1850. The enclosure of land moved the main street in the village further west, before the enclosure, the main road in Sewerby was east of Sewerby hall. The church, dedicated to St John the Evangelist, was built between 1846 and 1848, from sandstone transported from Wakefield. A chapal was first mentioned in historical documents from 1319. This had fallen into disuse by 1449 and another chapel was paid for. The church, which was designed by
Sir Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...
, is now a grade II* listed structure.
The village of Sewerby, as spelt through the ages;
1086 Siuuardbi, Siward Bi
1284 Sywardby
1312 Siwardeby, Sywardeby, Syuuardby
1315 Seuerdby, Siwardeby, Sywardby
1346 Sywardeby
1650 Sewrby
Originally, Marton railway station (later named railway station) was the nearest station to Sewerby, however, whilst is nearer at , the route from the station to Sewerby is inadvisable for walkers, so is often advised to be the best station for access to the locality. The village is on the northern edge of Bridlington Bay, and it fronts onto the shore in a southwards direction, making it the only seaside resort in the East Riding of Yorkshire that faces south.
In 1955, Bridlington Council put forward a plan to build a light railway to Sewerby hall. Objectors stated it would ruin agricultural land. Whilst the light railway wasn't built, there are now ''land-trains'' between Bridlington and Sewerby Hall.
The 21st century Sewerby has a restaurant, two churches and the Ship Inn, which like the cricket pitch, has views out over the sea.
The village is also home to ''Bondville'', the last remaining model village in Yorkshire.
Governance
In 1854, Sewerby-cum-Marton was created as a parish, separated off from the parish of Bridlington. At the time it was in the
wapentake
A hundred is an administrative division that is geographically part of a larger region. It was formerly used in England, Wales, some parts of the United States, Denmark, Southern Schleswig, Sweden, Finland, Norway, the Bishopric of Ösel–Wiek, ...
of
Dickering, and had an area of , though some of that was designated as ''foreshore''. In 1935, the parish was sub-sumed back into the civil parish of Bridlington, which now accounts for its population statistics. The area is represented in the
Houses of Parliament
The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north ban ...
as part of the
East Yorkshire
The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to th ...
constituency.
Notable residents
*
Helene Palmer (1928–2011), actress who portrayed
Ida Clough on ''
Coronation Street''.
*
Frances Crawshaw (1876–1968), painter and botanical artist.
References
*
Sources
*
*
External links
*
Sewerby Village HomepageSewerby HallSewerby Cricket Club
{{authority control
Villages in the East Riding of Yorkshire
Populated coastal places in the East Riding of Yorkshire
Bridlington