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It appears by documents which, through the kindness of a friend, I have been allowed to inspect, that in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Sir William Wentworth, of Wentworth Woodhouse, in the county of York, possessed a very considerable estate in the parish of Owston, which he sold to John Torksey, of Haxey, and Thomas Otter, of Owston. John Torksey sold his share to the family of Woodhouse, in whose possession it still remains, The present family residence was in a great measure rebuilt by the late Gervas Woodhouse, Esq.; and, at the west end, the large tree still flourishes under which Wesley frequently preached when he came to visit this place.

There are four small Charities for the benefit of the poor of the township of Owston and West Kinnard Ferry: a rent charge of forty shillings per annum, in money, payable out of a close of meadow land, situated in the Black Dikes, and which, by the will of the donor, is called Pindar's Dole: an acre of land, in a place called the Beggins, vested in the Minister and Churchwardens, for clothing the poor, now lets for one pound nineteen shillings, given by Edward Otter, in 1710: a rent charge of thirteen pounds four shillings, given by the will of Robert Stovin, of Fockerby, in the year 1662: a rent charge of five pounds, bequeathed by Joseph Noddell *, of Westwoodside,

* Joseph Noddell was born at Kinnard Ferry, in the parish of Owston. He was the son of Daniel Noddell, a solicitor, the same person who, with about four hundred men, assisted in destroying the Participants' Church at Sandtoft. He was perpetually in litigation. His solicitor was Mr. John Pindar of Ferry, until such time as he could no longer find money to pay the expences of his suits, then he had recourse to Mr. Edward Laughton, of Scotter. The last trial in which Noddell was engaged was at the Lent assizes, at Lincoln, A. D. 1638, before the pious Judge Hale, who, on that occasion, says our hero, "preverted judgment." The gift of his estate at Park, to his son and Owston school, was made with the intention of defrauding his creditors. In the year 1712, he

published

side, in the parish of Haxey, out of his lands and tenements, "to be paid into the hands of the Minister and Churchwardens of the parish of Owston, the place of the nativity of the said Joseph Noddell, upon special trust and confidence, that the said Minister and Churchwardens shall, with the said five pounds, pay and discharge all the School Master's wage for teaching so many of the most needful poor children, inhabiting within the said township and parish of Owston, to read and write in the English tongue, as the Minister and Churchwardens shall think fit." Three other small Charities have been lost-one left by Thomas Moody, in 1695, for bread to the poor :-also a rent charge upon some land of one pound per annum, which has been sold to several different persons, and cannot now be identified; which was left by Thomas Burton, in 1715-a piece of land left by one Skerne, for clothing the poor.

WEST KINNARD FERRY.-Of the derivation of the word Kinnard, which, from very early times, has been the distinguishing appellation of the Ferry over the Trent at this place, and of the Castle which guarded it, I am not able to offer any very satisfactory information. It has been conjectured that Kinnard is a contraction for King Edward, King Edward's Ferry, which is somewhat supported by the fact that, in all antient documents and records, this Ferry is denominated the King's Ferry. As it was known by this name as early as the beginning of the twelfth century, it may perhaps not be thought altogether improbable, that, when Edward the Confessor sought forces amongst his allies in Northumbria, against his southern enemies, he might effect a passage over the river at this place, which, from so remarkable an event, was ever afterwards called King Edward's Ferry.

This Ferry, as I have already noticed in the History of the Manor Court, has an exclusive right of taking toll of all persons passing over the Trent between

published a work in quarto, containing four hundred pages, entitled "The Divine Companion, or the Christian's Support under the Troubles of this Life." It consists of Poems, Meditations, and Prayers; to which is added a trial between Joseph Noddell and Mrs. Ann Tankersley. The whole work betrays the disordered state of the mind of the author. He died at Park, in the parish of Haxey, and was buried in one of the fields adjoining to the house in which he expired.

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between Heckdyke and Amcoats, i. e. along the whole extent of Epworth Manor; and therefore those persons who keep the Ferries at Butterwick and Althorpe pay an acknowledgement to the Lord. In the reign of James the First, the Ferry and the Ferry-house were sold to John Terry, citizen and goldsmith *, of London, with all the liberties, advantages, dues, customs, and profits, being parcel of the Manor of Epworth, to have and to hold the same, as they were held by any of the Kings and Queens of England, in free and common soccage, and not in capite nor by knight's service, on condition of paying at Michaelmas and Lady-day, by equal proportions, the sum of four pounds ten shillingst. Three boats are here kept constantly afloat, one for passengers exclusively, another for passengers and their horses, and a third for carriages and droves of cattle. In fine weather, during the neap tides, passage is made in a few minutes; during spring tides and heavy freshes it is much more tedious, and when the river is encumbered with ice, some

the

times dangerous.

The village of West Kinnard Ferry extends along the bank of the river almost a mile in length. It appears somewhat remarkable that all the old houses have been constructed with the ground floors so much below the surface that they are liable to be flooded by an occasional high spring tide, or whenever the spring tides have to contend with freshes, when an ascent of two or three steps would have effectually kept them dry; but before bricks were made in the neighbourhood, which is only of late years, materials for building walls must have been extremely scarce.

It appears from the Valor Ecclesiasticus, temp. Henry the there was a Chapel in this town, no vestige of which remains. it is, however, well known, and is still called the Chapel Garth.

Eighth, that

The site of At the inclosure

* The occupation of a goldsmith at this period was particularly lucrative, and much connected with that of a money-broker. King James had probably had some dealings with Terry, similar to those which he had with the famous George Heriot, so well described by Sir Walter Scott, in the Fortunes of Nigel.

†This is a writ of the Privy Seal. Hanaper Office.

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