A.D. 1050, and contains three bells. I am indebted to my friend, Mr. Lukis, the Rector of Wath, for the following. description of the three bells in the tower. "The inscriptions are as follows;— 1. Voco veni precare 1720. S.S. Ebor. 2. Tutamen Regis Solamen gregis. W.P. W.V. S.S. fecit 1664 3. Celorum Christe placeat tibi rex Sonus iste 1590. The 1st and 2nd bells were cast at York by Samuel Smith, whose device was a shield bearing a chevron between three bells impaling three tripod ewers, and this shield you will find on the 2nd bell. So far as I have been able to ascertain, he cast bells between 1663 and 1728; and he was one of the Sheriffs of York in 1723. Your 3rd, or heaviest bell, was cast by a man whose device is upon it, and is found widely scattered over several Northern counties. It bears a shield on which is a trade mark, with the letter R on one side and a bell on the other beneath crowns; but to whom to attribute it I do not know with any certainty." The living is a Vicarage of the yearly value of £400, arising from 254 acres of glebe land and a payment of £44 per annum of tithe.* It is in the patronage of the Archbishops of York, and is held by the Rev. Edward Thomas Mortlock, M.A., of Gonville and Cains College, Cambridge. There is a National and an Infant School, which are principally supported by voluntary contributions. The Wesleyans and the Primitive Methodists have each of them a place of worship in the village. Thorpe Hall, which is very prettily situated on the Burlington road about a mile to the East of the village, is occupied by the Honourable Mrs. Bosville. Sir Henry Somerville Boynton, Bart., is Lord of the Manor. The principal landowners are the Trustees of Alexander W. M. Bosville, Esqr. (a minor); Lord Londesborough, Sir Henry S. Boynton, Bart., Charles N. Hopkinson, Esqr., and Ralph Creyke, Esqr. The soil is partly loamy and partly *The "Award," 1777. gravelly; the subsoil is limestone and gravel. The chief crops are wheat, oats, barley, and turnips. The cultivation of the soil is not to be surpassed either in the county or the country, and it must indeed be an enjoyable sight to those who come from our cities and towns to spend a few weeks at the neighbouring watering places, as they ramble through this village and district, to notice the green fields so free from noxious weeds, the straight, well-cut, beautifully kept hedges, and the large flocks of Leicester sheep grazing within its precincts. The population in 1871 was 595; the area is 5,060 acres; the gross estimated rental, £7,022; and the rateable value, £5,445. The registers date from the year 1550, and considering their antiquity, as also, from a note stating that they were previously found "loose and scattered about in the vicarage," they are in a wonderfully good state of preservation. From them we gather that, “The infectious distemper among Horn Cattle wch rag'd almost in all ye counties in England, began at Rudston in November, 1748, and ceas'd again in April, 1749, in wch time their died in ye parish of Rudston as follows: At Caythorp, belonging to John Jefferson .... ..... 35 22 190 Then follows this entry "In May, 1748, we built a loft or gallery at Rudston, wch was done by subscription entirely, wch cost £10 12s. Od. Sir Griffith Boynton gave 3 guineas; Mr. Hassel, 1 guinea; Mr. Benjamin Hudson, 10s. Od.; myself, 10s. Od.; ye rest by a voluntary subscription of ye parishioners. J. KNOWSLEY." Under the entry of Baptisms in 1809 is the following notification: "INUNDATION OF RUDSTON. The greatest overflow of waters prevailed here ever remembered. Many persons were obliged to abandon their homes and repair to the dwellings of the benevolent and humane for temporary refuge. Rudston, February 15, 1809, RD. HARRISON, Clerk." Of the Constables who formerly owned the hamlet of Caythorpe, there is a notification as follows: |