Hook

Hook - a potted history

Hook is a linear, riverside village, situated in the East Riding of Yorkshire (previously in the West Riding), adjoining the River Ouse.  The village is probably named after the hook of land on which it stands.  

There is no record of Hook in the Domesday Book, the closest places mentioned being Skelton, situated immediately opposite, across the river, and Little Airmyn, approximately 3 miles west of Hook.  In 1066, Skelton was under the ownership of King Edward.  By 1086, the tenant in chief was Cuthbert, Bishop of Durham.  In 1066 Airmyn was owned by the Sheriff Merleswein, Ralph Paynel becoming tenant in chief by 1086. A comparison of annual values for Skelton and Airmyn between 1066 and 1086 suggests that the Harrying of the North vastly reduced the value of this area, particularly in Skelton.  It is possible that Hook was not recorded in the Domesday Book due to difficulty of access - the land was extremely wet and marshy, being on the edge of the peat bogs of Inclesmoor.  

Colonisation of this area seems to have begun in the medieval period, mainly due to the proximity of the turbaries.  The peat was an extremely valuable commodity.  It was used for domestic heating and for powering industry.  The area also provided valuable pasture land, with food such as fish, ducks and eels being sourced in the rivers and waterways.

Hook’s first known resident seems to have been a hermit - the hermitage became an accepted landmark in deeds of the 12th century.  For instance, a deed of 1190, states:  “Moorland in Hook, with the heremitagium in the land of Hook, with land to make a road to the river - confirmed by son, Roger. Granted by Anketin de Hook to Selby Abbey”.

The de Hooks are found in Hook land transfer documents from the 12th to the 14th century.  In fact, it seems that the first Lords of the Manor of Hook and, possibly, the first inhabitants of the moated site may have been the family of Anketin de Hook. The first mention of the family occurs circa 1150, when Anschetil de Huc and Savaric, his brother, act as witnesses to a grant made by Robert de Davidvilla [D'Eyville] to William son of Scledware, of one bovate at Ethelinghefled [Adlingfleet] at an annual rent of 1 pound of pepper.  As parties on both sides of a deal at this time were keen to ensure that only very reliable men or women were chosen as witnesses, the de Hucs were obviously well-thought of and of high status in the area.   

It seems likely that the de Hook family originated in the Anctiville region of Normandy, coming over to England following the Norman Conquest.  The ancient family of Anctil became influential seated landowners in Normandy.  Following the Norman invasion the family was granted lands, manors and estates in the British Isles.  Subsequent grants made by members of the de Hook family indicate that one of these estates covered the area of Inclesmoor, including Hook.  However, it is possible that, in turn, the de Hooks were tenants of St Mary’s Abbey, as Hook would have come within the area ‘between Airmyn and Ousefleet’ which Henry I gave to St Mary's Abbey, York during the early 1100’s, possibly as compensation for the fact that he gave Snaith to Selby Abbey.  

The de Hook family made many grants of land, particularly turbaries, to a range of monasteries, including St Mary’s Abbey in York, Selby Abbey, Thornton Abbey, Louth Park, Pontefract Priory and to the Nuns of Nun Coton .  From these grants we are able to identify a brief genealogy of the family:

1. Norman invader???

2. Anketin is recorded as giving land to monasteries in 1189, together with his son, Anketin. It seems probable that Anketin Snr was born during the first quarter of the 1100’s.

3. Ankelinus (Anketin; Anschetill) and wife, Avicia - Ankelinus died c1208; born pre-1169?

4. Roger de Huck (Huch; Huuc) - was a benefactor to the hospital of St Leonard, York.  In 1208, Savary de Huc quit-claimed to Roger 20 acres of land in Hook,

5. John de Huck- became Sir John de Huck and, subsequently, Baron John de Houke.  John’s son, Godwin, gave half an acre of land in Rawcliffe to Selby Abbey. 

6. Thomas de Huck, Knight - between 1270 to post-1316. Thomas was returned as Lord of Cotness and joint Lord of Swinton in Ryedale.

7. William de Houk - served as Sheriff of Yorkshire from 1304 - 1307.

8. Roger de Huck - granted land near the hermitage to Selby Abbey

One such grant, dated to between 1190 and 1207, in which Asketill de Huch, with his son Aschetill, granted to the brethren of St Martial of Newhouse 10 perches of moor in Inklemoor in Swinefleet, bears Asketill’s seal, which is described in the Catalogue of Seals at the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum, Volume 2, as 'In armour: hauberk of mail, cap-like helmet, sword, shield.  Horse galloping, +SIGILLVM.ASCTIN DE HVC'.

In 1224, Richard de Kellesay, the Abbot of Selby from 1223 to 1245, granted a licence to Baron John de Houke for a chantry chapel to be built in the courtyard of his manor house, thus suggesting that a house was in situ by this date.  Manor houses were typically built around a courtyard.  The chaplain of the chapel was to swear fidelity to the Abbot of Selby.  The proximity of Hook Church to the moated mound suggests that the de Hook manor house may have been built on the mound, the chapel being built just to the north, on the site of the present church.  It is possible that the moat might have been a later addition. 

In 1323 Margaret Despenser, the fourth daughter (and at least ninth child) of Hugh Despenser the Younger and Eleanor de Clare was born at the King’s Manor House in Cowick, approximately 10 miles from Hook. Hugh and Edward II were at Cowick at the time, and Edward gave Eleanor £100 'for the expenses of her childbed' (son gesine). There is a suggestion that Margaret may have actually been the illegitimate daughter of Edward II and Eleanor - not Hugh’s daughter.  By the order of the King, Margaret was sent to live with Sir Thomas Houk and his family soon after birth and was raised there with a large retinue.  Proof of this may be found in the Calendar of Close Rolls 1327-30, pp. 47-8, Membrane 12, where Thomas asks to be released from a debt in part recompense for the expenses incurred when keeping Margaret Despenser, daughter of Hugh, together with her nurse and a large retinue, in his house at his cost.  If the de Hook family were still living in the moated manor house, it is probable that the accommodation would have had to be extended to house a ‘large retinue’.  Could it be that the separate areas on the site may indicate additions to accommodate these royal visitors?  Unfortunately, Margaret only lived in Hook until the start of 1327 as, when she was just three years old, Queen Isabella forced her to be veiled as a nun at Watton Priory.

In the Poll Tax of 1379, Hook was recorded as the smallest of the townships in the neighbourhood, most of the villagers paying the minimum tax of 4d.  There was no mention of a ‘de Hook’ family in the listing for Hook, the nearest being in Howden, across the river.  

In 1384-5 Sir Thomas Ughtred, knight, was granted the manor of Hook by William de Swynfflet, John Marshall Rouclyff, William Benetson of Linton, and Thomas de Moram of Hook, thus indicating that the manor was no longer in the ownership of the de Hook family.  In fact, it seems that Avice, sister and one of the heirs of Sir Thomas de Houk, instigated the departure of the de Hook family.  Avice was the wife of Sir Nicholas de la Rivere.  In 1330 Avice granted part of the manor of Hook to her sons and heirs, Richard and William de la Rivere.  The de Hooks seem by now to have largely relocated to the Cotness and Ryedale area.

The manor of Hook transferred many times over subsequent years, major Hook landowners including the families of Neville, Bayley, Ayscoughe, Empson, Mitchell, Sotheron and Jefferson.

A key family in the story of Hook is the Mitchell family.  The first time we meet them is when Anthony Mitchell, Senior and Junior acquire the moiety of a cottage, croft and sand, a parcel of moor and a cowgate in Hook from William Ascoughe.  Thomas, son of Anthony Mytchell and Elizabeth, who was the daughter of Robert Jackson, Yeoman of Hook, later mentions a mansion house in Hook, but gives no indication of the location of this house. 

Dorothy Mitchell (born c.1667) was the daughter of Anthony’s descendant, Robert Mitchell, and inherited Hook from her father in 1691.  Dorothy married William Sotheron, Gent in 1684 and this marriage led to a long line of Sotherons in Hook, including John Sotheron who, according to a Sotheron genealogy, was responsible for ‘rebuilding the mansion at Hook’.  John died unmarried in 1743, which is the date credited with the building of Hook Hall.  However, we believe that the ‘mansion’ which John ‘rebuilt’ may have been Hook House, which is situated very close to Hall Garth. Hook House is recorded as not having been built until the early 1800’s, but it actually appears on the enclosure map of 1768. 

Finally, intriguing evidence of a manor house on the moated site appears in a one year lease , made by Robert Mitchell, Gentleman of Hook, to Reverend William Millington of Howden and Matthew Belt, Gentleman, also of Howden, dated 4th April 1688.  The lease refers to a ‘capital messuage called Hall Garth in Hooke’.  As a capital messuage is the main messuage of an estate, the house in which the owner of the estate normally lives, this strongly suggests that there was a building on the moated site of Hall Garth at this time.  Maybe the Mitchells lived on the moated manor site?  The manor house may have been in need of major repair by this time, especially if it had been built at the time of the de Hook family.  Therefore, is it possible that John Sotheron built the ‘new’ Hook House nearby to house the Sotheron family, the moated site being relegated to accommodation for servants, with storerooms and brewery, etc. or even just pasture for animals, perhaps??

Previous excavations

To our knowledge, there have been two previous excavations on the site.  The first was carried out around 1964 by local historian Harold Garside.  His finds are housed in the collection of Goole Museum and include a roof tile, a piece of burnt bone and a number of pottery sherds.  According to Garside, these date to between 1066 and 1530.

In the mid-1970s, foundations, hearths, pottery and wooden stakes were reported as having been found on the moated site by the owner. 

Conclusion

While we cannot prove that the de Hooks ever lived on the moated site, the description of Hall Garth as a capital messuage provides quite strong proof.  As the de Hooks were, for a long period, the Lords of the Manor of Hook, it follows that they would probably have lived in the manor house on the moated site.