History of Barrow-upon-Humber
Early History St. Chad The Danes Domesday Thornton Abbey Civil War
John Harrison Enclosure Population Education Kellys1889 Holy Trinity Church
Lincolnia Comitatus 1645-1648
Early History
There is no record of Barrow during Roman times, although Lincoln and York were, of course, important Roman cities and there would have been traffic between the two of them, crossing the Humber at or near South Ferriby.
The remains of three boats dating from the Bronze Age (between 2030 and 1680 BC) were discovered near North Ferriby (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferriby_Boats) indicating, not surprisingly, that the Humber was a well-used highway well before the Roman period.
However, remains of a Roman site have been found at Deepdale (see map) and these were excavated 1979-81. In 1979 a coin hoard composed of siliquae (small silver coins) and deposited there about 395. Archaeological excavations subsequently revealed a Roman-British farm complex in use up until the end of Roman occupation and possibly beyond. Such farms are usually called ‘villas’. Along with coins, pottery and bronze brooches were discovered.
Silver solidus of Emperor Arcadius 383-408 from the Deepdale coin hoard with Excavation Map as shown.
Aet Bearuwe is the earliest name we have for Barrow. Translated from the Early English it means ‘At the wood or grove’ so the full meaning of the village’s name can be translated as ‘the wood or grove by the River Humber’. Geoff Bryant remarks, in his ‘The Early History of Barton-upon-Humber’ re Aet Bearuwe, ‘Do not imagine that this name indicated an area of thick or even modest tree cover for the woodland referred to was almost certainly underwood or scrubland which would, at the time, have been used for the pasturing of animals..
St. Chad
The local British / Celt population was displaced or absorbed by immigrants from Northern Europe following the Roman retreat. So although there was probably a settlement in or near Barrow for thousands of years the first record of note that we have is of the founding of a monastery in the seventh century by Chad (later St Chad). ‘Bede records that c. AD 667 King Wulfhere of Mercia gave fifty hides of land at barrow to build a monastery. Its site has been lost, though the north end of Barrow is known as St Chad. on land given by Wilfhere, King of Mercia.’ By this time the Anglo-Saxons were well established and were gradually converting to Christianity. Further, ‘A charter of AD 971 still exists recording King Edgar’s grant of lands at Barrow to the monastery ofPeterborough.’ (from Anglo-Saxon and Viking Humberside pub. Humberside Archaeology Unit, 1986).
Chad, who died in 672, was a prominent Anglo-Saxon churchman, who became abbot of several monasteries, Bishop of the Northumbrians and subsequently ‘Bishop of the Mercians and Lindsey People’. He is credited, along with his brother, Cedd, with introducing Christianity to the area.
The region roughly comprising Lincolnshire would only recently have been absorbed into Mercia, having existed both as a small ‘kingdom’ known as Lindsey and as part of Northumbria, at that time one of the five dominant Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. (See maps)
The Danes
The next great change came with the Danish attacks and settlement. Between 865 and 870 the whole of Eastern England fell under Danish control and that included Barrow. Fifty years later, English rule was restored following the expansion of Wessex (under King Alfred and his successors). However, in 1015 this area was subjected to further Danish raids and in the following year the majority of what we now call England was ruled by the Danish king Cnut (Canute). Shortly after his death in 1035, the throne reverted to the Anglo-Saxon line… but by then it was nearly 1066 and more changes were on their way for North Lincolnshire.
Domesday to Dissolution
Click to see entry for Barrow-Upon-Humber in Domesday Book
Following the establishment of the Norman dynasty in 1066, William I ordered an inventory of the whole kingdom. This painstakingly compiled document is known as the Domesday Book and contains information about every settlement, including Barrow, where the land was held by Drogo of la Beuvriere, a Fleming from near Bethune who had presumably come over with William of Normandy. He was feudal overlord to Earl Morcar who had land at Barrow ‘for 18 ½ ploughs’. A mill already existed here and down near the Humber was a motte and bailey castle, the remains of which can be detected as earthworks in fields at Barrow Haven. It was never upgraded to a stone castle which implies that the Normans did not envisage a threat from overseas via the Humber or a local uprising. There were, of course, important castles at Lincoln and York.
Between the Domesday survey and the Dissolution of the Monasteries in Henry VIII’s reign very little is known of Barrow. That’s nearly 500 years of obscurity. However, we do know that Barrow’s development would have been much influenced by the existence of Thornton Abbey, 4 miles to the south-east of Barrow, and which owned the manors of Barrow.
Thornton Abbey
Thornton Abbey was founded as a priory in 1139 by William le Gros, the Earl of Yorkshire, and raised to the status of Abbey in 1148. It was a house for Augustinian or black canons. Little of the Abbey can be seen now but a visit to the site and the imposing gatehouse will give some idea of the power and wealth this religious centre would have possessed.
The two centres of devolved power in the village were manors on the sites of the present Down Hall and Barrow Hall, at opposite ends of the settlement.
During the 12th to 16th centuries, (i.e. Late Medieval to Tudor periods, we can assume that the feudal system would have governed people’s lives as it did elsewhere. Good and bad harvests would have been enjoyed or survived and the population probably changed only slightly. We have no records of the impact of the ‘Black Death’ in the 14th century but again we can assume that Barrow was affected and its population suffered a decline. Otherwise, the field system worked well enough given the good quality and variety of soil types, providing both arable and pasture land.
With the Dissolution of the Monasteries (1539) came a power shift in that the manors owned by the Abbey passed to lay owners who held their titles to the land from the King. Unlike some villages, there was no overall powerful landlord, which probably led to the local vicar having more influence in the life of the village.
Religious Uncertainty and Civil War
During the 16th and 17th centuries, the country’s religion changed with the regime, sometimes lurching from extreme Protestantism to Catholicism and back again within a few years. In these situations, sometimes when the country's religion changed the vicar was changed and sometimes the vicar changed his religion. Apart from that, as far as we know, the Civil War, the Commonwealth and the Restoration had little direct effect on Barrow.
In the meantime, life continued much as before. The village was largely self-sufficient with only a few items needing to be imported along the Humber, such as coal, sugar and spices. Almost all the buildings were single storey and constructed of timber with mud and lath walls and thatched roofs. The roof spaces would be used for storage and sleeping accommodation for servants but there would be no proper ‘upstairs’. Most people, even if they had a trade such as blacksmithing or thatching would farm: having some land, a cow, swine and almost certainly geese or chickens.
John Harrison
It was in this kind of society that John Harrison grew up, having moved to Barrow in 1697, where John’s father held the post of parish clerk for many years. John Harrison, while choirmaster at Holy Trinity Church, developed his revolutionary chronometer changed the face of marine navigation. His struggle to prove his invention worked and win the £20,000 prize offered by the Board of Longitude is well documented most recently in Dava Sobel’s novel Longitude which was adapted into a television film staring Michael Gambon and Jeremy Irons. John Harrison’s story is sufficiently important to deserve a section of its own. Read more here.
Holy Trinity church has in its churchyard a sundial made in 1731 by James Harrison, brother of John.
Change & Growth
By Harrison’s time we know that buildings were beginning to change and become more like the ones we see today. The vicarage was recorded as being ‘walled with brick’ in 1693 and the new material, together with tiles for roofs, became more and more common as the next century progressed. Together with stronger materials came the desire to raise the roof and make two storeys. These materials could be sourced locally though not, it seems, within Barrow parish until after enclosure.
Enclosure
“Before enclosure, much of the arable land in the central region of England was organised into an open field system. Enclosure was not simply the fencing of existing holdings, but led to fundamental changes in agricultural practice. Scattered holdings of strips in the common field were consolidated to create individual farms that could be managed independently of other holdings. Prior to enclosure, rights to use the land were shared between land owners and villagers (commoners). For example, commoners would have the right to graze their livestock when crops or hay were not being grown, and on common pasture land. The land in a manor under this system would consist of “Two or three very large common arable fields; several very large common hay meadows; closes, (small areas of enclosed private land such as paddocks, orchards or gardens, mostly near houses) and, in some cases, a park around … the manor house. There would also be common waste / rough pasture land (effectively everything not in the previous categories). … At this time “field” meant only the unenclosed and open arable land – most of what would now be called “fields” would then have been called “closes”. The only boundaries would be those separating the various types of land, and around the closes.” (from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclosure )
Barrow possessed all of these features (see map) with hay-meadows towards the river and arable fields towards the south. There were many small enclosed fields or closes in and around the village settlement itself (shaded on the map) and parkland around Barrow Hall. Some of the ‘waste’ would have been areas marked as ‘Bog’.
The Enclosure of Barrow was carried out between 1797 and 1803, transforming the parish (see the ‘After Enclosure’ map). Not only was land allotted to individuals, but roads and drainage developed and improved. The road system as we know it derives from this period. 147 individuals were awarded land and the cost of the exercise was a massive (for those times) £15,175 17s 3d – paid by those in receipt of land. (Extensive details of the process and much else can be found in ‘Aspects of the History of Barrow on Humber’ edited by Rex Russell, 1988.)
There are still arguments about the effects and morality of the enclosures. In Barrow, as elsewhere, it is likely that there would have been winners (the local gentry and some of the new landowners, plus the commissioners, surveyors and solicitors) and losers (those left landless, perhaps becoming farm labourers or leaving the village for work in towns and those awarded land but burdened with the costs of fencing, drainage and road and bridge building).
Population
Before 1801 figures are very unreliable, sometimes being based solely on the number of ‘communicants’ i.e. those taking communion, sometimes based on adult males only and sometimes on households. These are some estimates based on figures in ‘John Harrison’s Village’ WEA 1999:
1563 = 477
1641 = 768
1705/1723 = 640
Whether it was due to the increased production of food following Enclosure or other factors, Barrow’s population certainly grew during the 19th Century. With the introduction of the census, figures are much more reliable:
1801 = 926
1811 = 1,129
1821 = 1,307
1831 = 1,334
1841 = 1,662
1851 = 2,283
1861 = 2,443
1871 = 2,517
1881 = 2,711
1891 = 2,695
1901 = 2,808
As the population grew, so did Non-conformity. Though Barrow was fortunate in having a resident vicar, unlike many of the surrounding parishes, by 1851 two-thirds of Barrow residents (which included New Holland) were ‘dissenters’. There were three non-conformist chapels serving the Primitive Methodists, the Wesleyan Methodists and the Independents. Wesley himself preached in Barrow on several occasions between 1761 and 1782. The Wesleyan chapels was built by 1782, the Independent chapel 1780-84 and the Primitive Methodist chapel in 1833. A Sunday School building was added to the Independent chapel in 1850.
Temperance Hall (North Street, now the site of ‘Ivydene’) opened in 1844, causing further splits in the community as not all Non-conformists were teetotallers.
Education
Educational provision also grew. In 1819 it’s recorded that half the brides and a third of the grooms could not sign their names. (Given the lack of schools, perhaps it’s surprising that so many could sign). Schooling was disorganized and sporadic. Different numbers of schools are recorded at different times, many of which would have only a handful of pupils and all would be supported by fees from parents. Church schools began to operate in the second half of the century (1851 in New Holland, 1868 in Barrow itself, classes being held in the Foresters Hall until 1895). In the meantime those who could afford it could take advantage of Barrow Infant School run according to the system of Samuel Wilderspin, see www.wilderspinschool.org.uk for more information.
Barrow Primary School as we now know it was built in 1895 and opened in November of that year. A very full account of education in Barrow and the history of what became John Harrison CE Primary School can be found in Barrow upon Humber: A Village at School, Peter Croton, Tigermoon 2016.
Kelly's Directory 1889
The Holy Trinity Church
The Holy Trinity Church is the parish church of Barrow upon Humber, in the Diocese of Lincoln. The sister church was Christ Church New Holland but this church has since been closed. Since 1984, this parish has been a United Benefice with the neighbouring parish church of All Saints, Goxhill and is served by one Priest and a band of extremely hardworking, caring laity.
The Patron is the Lord Chancellor and the population of the whole United Benefice is in excess of 5000.
There was a church here in Barrow (though not on this site) as far back as 677 in the time of ST CHAD. He had received the Bishopric of Mercia and Lindisfarne and the King, Wulfastan, gave him 50 hides of land to build a monastery. Some trace of this monastery was found some years ago in an excavation in St Chad, north east of the church, where a plaque outlining the site can be found on the south wall of Number 5 Martin’s Close (situated on the east side of St Chad).
Extracts from the excavation can be seen at “Baysgarth Museum” at Barton upon Humber (3 miles west of the village).
It seems likely that the church in existence at the time of ST CHAD was destroyed by invading Danes in 871 and that the present building of Holy Trinity began around circa 1000.
There are clear evidences of the NORMAN style being incorporated into the building as it was changed over the years. Prior to the year 1140, the church was a rectangular building with a tower and it was around this time that the North Aisle was originally built.
CHANCEL
The first chancel may well have been apsidal (semi circular) and the present chancel was added when the church was enlarged eastwards around 1240, the responds (half pillars) being removed and an early English arch added north and south. Typical of this early English architecture are the Lancet widows on the north side of the chancel.
At some time in the medieval period an extra eastern bay was added (now the organ chamber) and a low pointed arch and panelled door (now a dedicated prayer area on the north side of the chancel).
This area as with many medieval churches seems to have fallen into some state of disrepair and was subject to several restorations – 1450, 1760 and 1870.
The chancel is under a ‘LEY RECTORSHIP’ historically the owner of Barrow Grange Farm and the door on the south side (now permanently locked) was for his use. The pew arrangement in the chancel was taken up on the north side by the ‘Impropriators Pew’ and the south side by the ‘Uppleby Pews’ named after the family who resided at Barrow Hall.
NORTH AISLE
This was originally built around 1140. The aisle had a slope roof and was supported by cross beams and described as being, “divided into 3 parts by 4 Buttresses”, presumably one at each corner and two along the side. In the eastern division are square headed windows of three lights with trefoil heads. On the other division one square headed window of two lights and a plain pointed doorway.
The west wall had a pointed window of three lights with perpendicular tracery in a sweep. In 1842, the Rural Dean described this aisle as being in a “threatening condition” and the north wall was described to lean outwards by Archbishop Bonnet. This aisle was totally rebuilt in 1868.
SOUTH AISLE
This was originally built around 1220 and is very similar to the north aisle and was probably done by ‘piercing’ the existing walls (note the Norman pillars and arches). In the restoration of 1868 the aisle roof was raised and adopted a steeper angle thus covering the Nave clerestory walls and windows and in 1964 at the east end of this aisle the present piscine was discovered which suggests the existence of a Chantry.
NAVE
Nattes’ drawing of 1796 shows Holy Trinity to have had south clerestory windows of eight nearly square lights (in pairs). Each pair of windows were separated by a ‘corbel head’, each window had a centre stone mullion which forms two divisions of quarrels. These were covered in the 1868 restoration. The outline of these windows can still be seen today under the existing plaster (south side). The Nave altar was placed in its present position in 1979 and the choir pews moved back to the north and south walls.
An account of Barrow Church in 1867 stated that “very little had been spent on the fabric for many years” and the church was apparently in a state of great dilapidation! There was a Chorister’s Gallery filling in all the breadth of the west end of the Nave, of four seats all the length, which held a ‘good organ’. It was very neatly painted and supported by four wood pillars; the way to it was by a wood stair of seventeen steps.
A series of essential restorations were carried out in the second half of the nineteenth century. Works were encouraged by the revived interest and enthusiasm in the prayer book and pulpit style of worship. It is historically interesting to describe a parish church as it appeared before these major changes. Luckily, enough information has survived here at Holy Trinity to allow this. These can be found in the Lincolnshire Archive office at LINCOLN covering a period from 1796 to 1850.
TOWER
The tower has a good hipped roof of oak and was originally arranged internally, as today, with a chamber for the ringers, an upper chamber and belfry, which for many years housed a ring of six bells, four of them dated 1636, 1638, 1649 and 1674.
In 1953 Taylors of Loughborough supplied a new metal frame and fittings, recast the 1 & 2 (the lightest pair) of the existing 6 and added two trebles. The 3rd of the original 6 was later found to be cracked and was also recast. The former wooden frame dating to 1729 was one of the earliest known to have been made by James Harrison I who was commissioned in 1733 to construct a new frame and rehang the 12 at York Minster. This too was later replaced. The 7th is the only bell supplied by Lester of Whitechapel to Lincolnshire.
In December 2006 the eight bells were rehung in a frame for 12 by Taylors Eayre & Smith and at the same time the ringing chamber was completely renovated. In August 2007 two trebles were added, making a ring of ten and in the spring of 2008 two further bells were added to make a ring of twelve bells and complete the augmentation project.
There are only two other rings of 12 in the Lincoln Diocese; Lincoln Cathedral and Surfleet.
Holy Trinity has a very active band of bellringers and is home to one of the Central Council of Church Bellringers' recognised Ringing Centres, where one can be assured of good quality tuition in the ancient English art of Change Ringing. Bellringing is far more than just pulling a rope - it's a complete mental and physical workout in excellent company and can be learned by anyone over about 10 years of age. It is also a massive social network; ringers routinely travel all over the country to ring with friends (there are no strangers in ringing, just friends you haven't yet met!). If you are interested in finding out more, please visit "www.lowwood.org.uk."
FONT
This was originally sited at the west end of the south aisle near the entrance. It was an octagonal cup with a stalk on a square pedestal and was lead lined and held a “white metal basin”. Over the font there was a pyramidal wood octagonal cover.
The font you see today is from about 1750/1800 and has had restoration work. The railings are probably of 1750/1800 and it was at about this period the font was put in its present position.
LINKS to Information on Holy Trinity Church
A Church Near You: https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/14879/more-information/
Wikipedia: Church of Holy Trinity Barrow-Upon-Humber
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Holy_Trinity,_Barrow_upon_Humber
https://www.facebook.com/people/Holy-Trinity-Church-Barrow-Upon-Humber/100085218323486/
Historic England
Church of Holy Trinity Barrow Upon Humber
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1346864?section=official-list-entry