Swinefleet

A History of Swinefleet

The historians of villages make a clear distinction between 'closed' and 'open' villages. The 'closed' village is the Estate Village. All or nearly all the land is owned by one man; there is a uniformity in the cottages (and they may well be of a much higher quality than elsewhere); and the village is 'closed' because no-one can live there without the goodwill of 'the Squire'. The 'open' village is exactly the opposite; a multiplicity of landowners, a free-for-all in building and the chances - if there is a demand - of a lot of poorly-built small cottages and a welcome of some sort for anyone who cares to come and live there. Open villages can have a lot of people living in them and not much history. For it is the rich with their inherited estates and titles who keep documents. Sadly the poor can leave behind few traces of the lives they have lived. The History of the People of Swinefleet needs to be written by someone close to this township and also able to interpret the evidence of the records.

That George West, the author in 1884 of 'Methodism in Marshland' lived at Swinefleet and preserved in manuscript (now in Goole Library) the memories of the old people of his day, would be a help and encouragement to such a historian. For example he tells us that 'in 1745 the fishermen were one day very much alarmed by the tide rising for the third time in 24 hours the day of the earthquake at Lisbon' and that 'Hardy's Barn was fired by Hill and Atwick the year Grandmother Taylor was married. She having been married between the fire at the Barn and the Assizes at which they were tried'. That was written in 1862 about the events of 1796.

The facts we do have

The name is a disappointment: the experts tell us that 'Swein' never existed; and that pigs were no special part of this town's history. They tell us that 'swin' = 'creek, channel' and that 'fleet' in Old English means 'an inlet' and in Old Norse means 'river, stream'. It seems to be generally agreed that the Marshland 'fleets' refer to particular channels of the river.

Swinefleet started late and appears neither in Domesday or the Poll Tax lists. But by the 1300's it was certainly a flourishing place. The name comes up from time to time in the various disputes between the Abbeys about lands and tithes and notably in the 1306 agreement between Thornton and Selby about 'certain places, property and animals of the said Abbot and Convent of Thornton in the vills and estate of Swynflet and Rednesse now lying on the east side of a certain place which is called the Quay'. But it is in 1359 that we get some evidence that Swinefleet had grown into a real town for then the King (Edward III) grants to the Earl of Lincoln 'a market on thursday at his Mannor of Swynflete. And one Faire there for 4 dayes, viz. on the day after the Exaltation of the Holy Crosse and 3 dayes following.'

Soon after in 1370, the growing town gets its Church. 'The Townesmen and Inhabitants of Swynflete had liberty to erect and build on Chappell in the foresaid town of Swyneflete and to have a Chaplaine to celebrate divine service there for ever because the town of Swinflete is distant 2 miles from the Mother Church or poplar Chappell, which is scituate in the towne of Whiteguift, which way betwixt is deepe and durtie and especially in Wintertime by the vehement Inundations of water hapening more than ordinary, is so waterie and dangerous that you cannot come to the said Church or Chappell to heare service without hurtful labour and great danger.'

Church and Chapel in Swinefleet

Surprisingly Swinefleet Church doesn't appear in the 1546 Survey of Chantries. This was probably good news and proves that it was well established as a Chapel of Ease to Whitgift. Indeed around 1621 there is a reference to a 'perpetual curate' of Swinefleet and it would seem that there had been some movement towards becoming a separate parish.

The Civil War Parliamentary Commissioners - sensible as always - proposed that Swinefleet, 'with two hundred families', be made a parish but again, as always, their advice was not taken.

George West in his History of Methodism in Marshland tells us that 'previous to the grant from Queen Anne's Bounty.... the service at the Chapel of Ease at Swinfleet was once in six weeks'. Queen Anne's Bounty played an important part in building up the endowments of the various 'Chapels-of-Ease' in the Marshland area so that they could maintain a resident minister. For the accidents of history had seen the diversion of the resources that should have been used for the support of the ministry diverted to other uses. This had begun in the 12th and 13th Centuries when the tithes that should have supported the parish churches at Snaith and Adlingfleet were diverted to Selby Abbey and then at the Reformation to lay landowners. The modest financial provision eventually made for the Vicars of Adlingfleet and Snaith wasn't sufficient to be shared with those who were caring for the various Chapels of Ease. Queen Anne helped. She returned to the Church a tax on clerical incomes known as 'first-fruits and tenths'. In a complicated way this was used to purchase land with which the poorest livings were endowed. Rather oddly the livings to benefit first were chosen by lot. Swinefleet benefited on more than one occasion by Queen Anne's Bounty and so Swinefleet grew into a proper parish with a stipend (still modest) for a full-time resident Vicar. (By 1901 the stipend was £145 which certainly didn't make Swinefleet a rich living).

The first half of the 19th Century saw the population of Swinefleet double from 632 in 1801 to 1,152 in 1851. There was a new burial ground in 1858 and when the Revd. EC. Haynes was appointed Vicar in 1872 he was determined that there should be a new church and a new vicarage. He immediately sent out an appeal to all his friends seeking £2,000. 'The Church' he said, 'with little or no accommodation for the poor is an old brick building formerly used as a Chapel of Ease to Whitgift. So unsafe are the Timbers that Divine Service must shortly be held in the School Room'. The Vicarage was 'a mere dilapidated cottage'. History doesn't record how successful the Vicar's appeal was. The new church does not seem to have been completed till 1882. But the new Vicarage was built and Mr. West tells us that by 1884 the Stocks had been moved and were now 'placed at the end of the lock-up opposite the present vicarage near to the Horse Pond.'

By this time Methodism had been strongly established in Swinefleet for more than a century. 'Methodism in Marshland' makes a strong claim for Swinefleet being the first place in Marshland to have a Methodist Society. And certainly it was in October 1772 that 'the lately erected Building, commonly called the Preaching House, situate in Swinfleet, upon a piece of Ground the property of Theos Laverack, in the parish of Whitgift' was licenced 'as a place of publick Worship of Almighty God for Protestant Dissenters, commonly called Independents'.

'Methodism' had been growing in Swinefleet since at least 1764, and there is some evidence that the then Vicar of Whitgift was not unsympathetic to the new movement. Three men have the honour of bringing Methodism to Swinefleet: two farmers, Jonathan Dunn and Thephilus Laverack and a butcher, William Dealtry. On the 24th April, 1766, John Wesley made his first visit 'through heavy rain' says his Diary, 'to Swainfleet. I supposed, as the rain kept many from coming, the preaching house would contain the congregation, but it would not. However as doors and windows were open, I believe most of them could header, and the eagerness with which they heard made me hope they will not be forgetful hearers'. This was the first of a number of visits to Swinefleet and the laying of firm foundations for Wesleyan Methodism in Marshland - so close to Wesley's birthplace in Epworth.