Whitgift is a small linear 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 east of

Goole Goole is a port town and civil parish on the River Ouse in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The town's historic county is the West Riding of Yorkshire. According to the 2011 UK census, Goole parish had a population of 19,518, an increa ...

. It is located alongside the River Ouse and north of the A161 road between

and

Scunthorpe Scunthorpe () is an industrial town and unparished area in the unitary authority of North Lincolnshire in Lincolnshire, England of which it is the main administrative centre. Scunthorpe had an estimated total population of 82,334 in 2016. A pre ...

Ousefleet Ousefleet is a small hamlet in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England approximately east of Goole. It is located just south of the River Ouse and north of the A161 road between Goole and Scunthorpe. It forms part of the civil parish of Twin R ...

and

Reedness Reedness is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately east of the town of Goole and lies on the south bank of the River Ouse. The civil parish is formed by the village of Reedness and t ...

are to the east and west respectively. It 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 authority ...

of Twin Rivers. Historically Whitgift was part of the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

Features

There was for many years a Whitgift

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

, which may originally have predated the village.

Church

The Church of

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...

(on the Whitgift side of the border between Whitgift and

) dates from 1304 (replacing an earlier building, 11th–12th century or earlier). It has a famous clock with an unusual feature: instead of 12 (XII in

Roman numerals Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, eac ...

) it has a 13 (XIII). Reasons vary, but local rumour relates that it may be due to the church being adjacent to a pub (now closed) at which the painter imbibed before completing the job. The church was designated 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 ...

in 1967 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, an ...

, 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 wit ...

Hall

Whitgift is also notable for

Whitgift Hall Whitgift may refer to: *Whitgift, East Riding of Yorkshire, a small village near the confluence of the River Ouse and the River Trent. * John Whitgift, an English archbishop, who founded or gave his name to: ** the Whitgift Foundation ** the Whit ...

, a

grade II* 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 ...

listed

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

manor house built in 1704 by a family called Stephenson. Since it was built, it has undergone significant change. For example,

bay windows A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. Types Bay window is a generic term for all protruding window constructions, regardless of whether they are curved or angular, or r ...

were added and the current owners have a

caravan Caravan or caravans may refer to: Transport and travel *Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together **Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop *Camel train, a convoy using camels as pack animals *Convoy, a group of veh ...

site and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

pond.

Lighthouse

Whitgift lighthouse was erected just north of the village in the late 19th century, for the

Aire and Calder Navigation The Aire and Calder Navigation is the canalised section of the Rivers Aire and Calder in West Yorkshire, England. The first improvements to the rivers above Knottingley were completed in 1704 when the Aire was made navigable to Leeds and the ...

: a five-storey cream-painted tower with a stone base, it stands high. It remains operational, a waymark for ships travelling to and from

docks, and is

Grade II listed 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 ...

Other

Other features include a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

chapel, but Whitgift mainly consists of a sparse strip of houses spread out over its length bounded by the River Ouse to the north and fields to the south looking towards

Eastoft Eastoft is a village and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. It is situated within the Isle of Axholme, north-east from Crowle, and on the A161 road.OS Explorer Map 280: Isle of Axholme, Scunthorpe and Gainsborough: (1:25 000) : T ...

History

The place-name 'Whitgift' is first attested in a Yorkshire charter of circa 1080, where it appears as ''Witegift'', and in a charter of 1232 where it appears as ''Whitegift''. The name is thought to mean 'Hviti's or Hwita's gift'. Whitgift was previously a

that was part of the

Goole Rural District Goole was a rural district in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England from 1894 to 1974. It was created under the Local Government Act 1894, based on most of the Goole rural sanitary district (two parishes of which in Lincolnshire became part of t ...

in the

from 1894 to 1974, then in

Boothferry Boothferry is a village in the East Riding of Yorkshire in England. It is situated on the north bank of the River Ouse where the A614 road crosses the river. It is about north-west of Goole. Boothferry is split between civil parishes; areas ...

district of

Humberside Humberside () was a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in Northern England from 1 April 1974 until 1 April 1996. It was composed of land from either side of the Humber Estuary, created from portions of the East Riding of Yorkshire, West ...

until 1996.

References

External links

The Ancient Parish of Whitgift

Whitgift's entry on Goole On The Web

The clock which counts to 13
{{Authority control , additional=Q26630261 Villages in the East Riding of Yorkshire