In 1961, a grass field called Croft Garths lying to the south-east of Wawne church, was bulldozed so that the grassland could be converted to arable.  It was soon realised that this was no ordinary field. The subsequent excavations by pupils of Wawne school under the leadership of the headmaster, Howell Jones, revealed a fascinating story.

Plan of Waghen township 1773 : click to enlarge in new window

The team began a programme of sample excavation and recording before and during earthwork destruction. The children drew up a map based on mathematical calculations, and the research work embraced most subjects across the curriculum. 

Wawne excavations in 'Atkinsons' Field'
(Jill Sutcliffe, Neil Dixon, Ann Sutcliffe?)

In the classroom 1961

Howell Jones was something of a pioneer of 'modern education' locally.  He was appointed Head of Wawne school at Easter 1958, and found resources woefully inadequate - "especially the antiquated Geography books!"  He used the natural environment for many lessons, and all children belonged to a type of Club, studying Trees, Birds or Animals.  The local shop, seeing the children counting seconds to calculate bird flights, gave the Ornithology Group a stopwatch.  Says Howell Jones now of that time in Wawne: "I really enjoyed every day. School was like a club, and I couldn't get to school fast enough."  School inspectors compiled a taped unit of activities in Wawne school for use in training colleges.¹

Howell Jones working with Neil Dixon, 1961

We have already seen that Wawne was a thriving village in the Middle Ages, when many of the inhabitants were employed by the monks.  The excavations gave evidence not only of four distinct periods of building, but also that  those early settlements were not on the same site as the 'modern' village. Discoveries in other areas of farm land in Wawne, termed Atkinsons' Field, Middletons' Field, Dixons' Field, for example, showed additional areas of domestic habitation, suggesting a polyfocal village.

Croft Garths field clearly showed these four periods of house structure.  From his home in Chelmsford, Mr Jones writes of his excitement at finding 'evidence of old cobbled roads and houses, and shards in the village fields.'

map of earthworks after Jones. Click to enlarge

The earliest settlement  (A1-5) comprised about twelve peasant-houses of wattle and daub, dating from around the late 12th century to the 13th century, set in a rectangular pattern in the field. Some Staxton pottery was found, c1250-1350.

Five houses dating from the 13th century (B1-5) were of wood, but contained a number of bricks and clay roofing tiles.

In the 14th century, sixteen more houses were laid out in a row parallel to the street (C1-18).  This must have been a planned redevelopment by the lord of the manor, and it is suggested that a completely new start was made in that part of the village after the Black Death.² The wall foundations consisted of small boulders. All were two-roomed long-houses with a hearth of brick or cobble between rooms.  The roofs were tiled.  These houses were occupied until the 16th or early 17th century, though C1 and C17 survived into the 18th century. The east-west long-houses backed onto a series of sunken, by nearly one metre, cobbled fold-yards to the south (Y1-10).

Finally, the long-houses were replaced with eight houses built of brick, with evidence of tiled roofs (D1-8). This was, perhaps, a farm and farmyard complex. D8 was the largest building and probably represents the foundations of a barn with a smaller cobbled granary. The clay floors of the barn were covered with rubble, including fragments of decorated medieval floor tile from Meaux Abbey. The excavations revealed also two wells², both of brick, but Well 2, on a foundation of elm planking, appeared not to have been an open well, but to be pump-operated.

At the time of the 1773 estate map, this intriguing field known appropriately as Garths,  featured only one structure, possibly D7, but by 1790 this building had also disappeared.

Plan of village from estate map 1773

By 1846, the field had acquired its present name of Croft Garths, now the only remaining clue to this area's thriving habitation.

Ordnance Survey map of 1927 showing fieldwork areas

At the beginning of the 15th century, the parishioners of Sutton were still having to pay mortuaries and other dues to contribute towards the repair of Waghen church; and also still had to bury their loved ones there.  Dispute followed dispute. In 1429 the vicar of Waghen, Robert Tyas, made complaints against Sutton parishioners, that they had unlawfully buried their dead 'in the churchyard at the west end of Sutton church.'  Thomas Poynton, a deacon in the choir of Sutton Chapel, said that the chapel was 'notoriously dependent' on Waghen.³ Moreover, it was stated that the same Robert Tyas 'used to lie in bed until ten o'clock in the day', so that mourners from Sutton could not say mass for their dead.  For this the vicar was firmly rebuked. It was suggested that all the bodies wrongfully buried at Sutton should be exhumed. This would have been a major - and ghastly - job. The College buried at Sutton 26 adults and 111 children in 1420, so we can readily understand the villagers' reluctance to walk or ride the distance to Waghen.

In 1447 the Archbishop of York, acting as arbitrator between Sutton and Rome, decreed that all mortuary rights were to belong to Waghen; the chapel and rectory of Sutton were still to remain in Waghen parish.  More arguments followed, and at last, in 1454, in return for an annual payment of £1, Sutton received its own right of burial.  Still, "the inhabitants of Sutton do, over and above other burdens to be borne, touching the repairs of the nave in the parish church of Waghen, pay into the hands of the parishioners £4, in part of the £6, towards the founding of new bells thereof".⁴

The tower of Wawne church was raised during the 15th century, the Perpendicular period, apparent in the lofty pointed belfry window in the upper stage of two lights, with a transom. The tower has a plain square parapet.  It is probable that the bells were installed at the same time.

Talk of the bells landed a certain William Middleton in trouble in 1495.  He had happened to say, "it wer better unrongue at ye saunt' tyme yan messe unsogne" - it is better to have a service without ringing the bell than to have no service at all.  On 26 December he was pursued in Waghen Main Street by John of Cottingham and four other armed men, threatening to kill him with a pole-axe. He ran into the church for sanctuary, but a service was in progress.  The congregation was terrified, and it was only after ten hours that William's assailants went away. “For dred of dede" (dread of death), William left the country. Although the proceedings in Chancery are recorded, the outcome is not known.⁵

William, Lord Hastings, was not so fortunate as to escape with his life.  Along with other property, he was owner of the manor of Sutton. The Hastings Manor House stood to the east of the church from the 15th up to the end of the 18th century.

map after Blashill, showing Hastings Manor

During the Wars of the Roses in 1471 the powerful Lord Hastings returned to England in the company of Edward IV, supporting him in his recovery of the crown. After Edward's death in 1483, Richard of Gloucester, determined to seize the crown himself, suddenly, on 13 June, accused Hastings of plotting to kill him at a council meeting in the White Tower.  The Protector's guards 'rushed into the chamber and led Hastings outside to Tower Green where he was promptly beheaded.'⁶

Two years later, Richard III himself was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the last English king to die on the battlefield, the event  sometimes thought of as the end of the Middle Ages. The growing influence of the Renaissance and its ideas meant that God was no longer the centre of all things in man's mind.  People thought less of God and more of life.  The invention and speed of printing encouraged writers, artists flourished, and explorers set sail for the New World.  All these things led to a decline in the power of the church, and, locally, Wawne, Meaux and the church at Sutton were to undergo drastic change.

Everywhere the monasteries were the centres of opposition. As long ago as 1381 the religious reformer and bold Yorkshireman, John Wycliffe, had dared to criticise the church, and inspired his followers to translate the Bible into English. In the early 15th century Parliament had begun to call for dissolution. In 1489 the Archbishop of Canterbury, following a visit to the abbey of St Alban's, reported that many brethren 'neglect the service of God altogether; they live with harlots publicly within the precincts of the monastery.⁷ In 1514 Walsingham in Norfolk was a 'hotbed of corruption'.  Even the well-run abbeys were criticised for housing people who did not pay tithes or were too idle to give service to their country.  When King Henry VIII first mentioned to Wolsey his wish to abandon Catherine, it was 1527, and inevitably dissolution was at hand.

In 1535 Henry's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, 'organised an ominous valuation of all church property, including monastic wealth.'⁸  Meaux was duly visited, and a careful list made of all the abbey's property.  Abbot Richard Stopes was interviewed, and all the monks.  The visitor departed, bearing with him his secret report. The following March, Parliament suppressed all the smaller monasteries, and 370 were closed.  The abbey of Meaux, along with the other Greater Monasteries, was able to hold out for three more years, but on 11 December 1539, the King's agents confiscated this last monastic house in the East Riding.  Not relishing the King's alternative, the abbot must have signed the deed with trembling hand, that "by our unanimous consent and free will we have given to our excellent lord, King Henry, all our monastery, as well as our manors, meadows, markets, woods and tenements."⁹

With a clear annual income of £298, Meaux had been the third richest foundation in the Riding, but immediately all its treasures were summarily taken away. Those shining chalices went into the King's coffers; candelabra, images and paintings were swept away; the bells were recast as cannon; the lead was stripped from the roofs. Windows, doors and timber were sold, along with heaps of precious tiles. Rare manuscripts were irretrievably lost, probably 'condemned to the fire by the furious zealots and rapacious reformers'.¹⁰ The massive walls were left as a quarry, with which the King ordered the town of Hull to be fortified.

Not much sympathy seems to have been spared for the abbot and his twenty-four monks as they left the abbey gates for the last time and attempted to try their luck in the secular world.  The abbot,  preferring his pension of £40 a year to execution, went  to live in Skerne where he died in 1546.¹¹  He left six guineas for a priest to pray for his soul.

Some of the younger monks found work in parish churches. Their pensions of £5 or £6 were not enough to furnish an extravagant lifestyle. Vincent Downey took up a curacy at Sutton. Others went to Welwick, Keyingham and Beeford churches. Robert Robinson had an even more disruptive time, for he went on to acquire the chantry of St William in Beverley Minster, then when that chantry foundation was confiscated in 1548, he had to resort to school teaching in Beverley! There is no record that any of the monks kept in touch with their former companions, nor remembered them in their wills.

The Priory of Swine was dissolved on 30th September 1540. Thomas Cromwell did not live long to enjoy his loot, for that year he himself fell out of favour with Henry and was executed.

The forms of worship were changing, so that such foundations as the College of St James were out of step.  The chantry priests and Master of the college were dismissed with pensions in 1547, the rectory with all its barns, stables, the glebe, the tithes, and all their possessions, being taken into the hands of the king. Endowments such as Sir John de Sutton's to say 'prayers for my soul' were snatched by the Government.

After Henry's death in 1547, more changes took place under the young king, Edward VI.  Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, produced the first Book of Common Prayer in 1548, and worked tirelessly to encourage the growth of the Protestant Church. Bewildering Injunctions were sent to churches: whiten the church walls to be rid of the old pictures of hell and purgatory; destroy the crucifixes; wipe out the Palm Sunday crosses, the Ash Wednesday ashes; remove paintings and images; take away the altars, leaving 'one decent table'. The mass was replaced by communion, and the laity were to receive wine as well as bread. The prayer-book in English was introduced.

Edward died in 1553, and Mary became Queen. During her five-year reign she brought back Catholicism and persecuted the Protestants mercilessly, burning many of them alive, amongst them Archbishop Cranmer.  Thomas Whyte, the incumbent at Sutton who had married during Edward's reign, was reported for this 'offence', but does not appear to have been removed from office. When Mary died in 1558, 'all the churches did ring'. Under Elizabeth I's reign, the Reformation was complete.

In just eleven years, Sutton church had lost its priests and all its saleable goods including two bells and 'one paire of orgains'. Altars had been removed, and two of its precious historic furnishings, the font and the tomb, had been despoiled.  But the manner of worship had also changed.  People were encouraged to think for themselves: there was an English Bible which many could read; an English service which peasants could understand; registers of births, marriages and deaths had been introduced; and above all, an open road to God, unencumbered by priestly pardons. 

The Church, Sutton, c.1910

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CHAPTERS

Chapter 1 ~ Chapter 2 ~ Chapter 3 ~ Chapter 4

Chapter 5 ~ Chapter 6 ~ Chapter 7 ~ Chapter 8

Chapter 9 ~ Chapter 10 ~ Chapter 11 ~ Chapter 12

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Notes

1     Copy kindly provided by Mr Jones in the care of the Education Centre in Sutton.

2     Colin Hayfield: Landscape History, p.45

3     Blashill, p.121

4     Poulson: History & Antiquities, p.284

5     Ibid, p.281

6     P Young & J Adair: Hastings to Culloden, p.96

7     Balleine, op. cit.

8     Ibid, p.100

9     Ibid, p.104

10   Poulson: p.310

11   Claire Cross: The End of Medieval Monasticism in the East Riding of Yorkshire, 1993

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