Cowick

A Brief History of Cowick

The township of Cowick covers West Cowick, East Cowick, Turnbridge, Between Rivers and Beaver's Bridge, all of which are located within the East Riding of Yorkshire (previously the West Riding), close to the market town of Snaith.

The name of Cowick is thought to mean “cow farm” or “dairy farm”. It is believed that this derives from the Old English ‘wic’, meaning a dwelling place or abode and ‘cu’, being the word for cow. This suggests that the settlement may have been established by the Anglo Saxon period of the fifth to ninth centuries.

The Manor of Snaith and Cowick was in existence by the time of the Domesday Book (1086) although, whilst Snaith is mentioned three times – as Esneid, Esnoid and Esnoit – there seems to be no reference to Cowick. Unfortunately, there is also no detailed entry for Snaith, possibly because it was a royal manor and reserved for the support of William’s household at the time of Domesday.

In medieval times, Cowick continued to belong to the King and, in fact, was Edward II's centre of Government for a time, with the Ordinance of Cowick being signed there in the 1300's. It subsequently became part of the estates of the Duchy of Lancaster and then of the Dawney family.

An entry in the Universal British Directory of 1791 lists Cowick as being a large village near the conflux of the Don and Aire Rivers. It was the seat of the Right Honourable Lord Viscount Downe and was within half a mile of a moat, cellar and small remains of a castle, said to be a seat of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.

By 1848,according to Samuel Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary of England, Cowick was a township containing 882 inhabitants. It was in the parish of Snaith, the union of Goole, in the Lower division of the Wapentake of Osgoldcross, within the West Riding of York, and situated half a mile (S.E. by E.) from the market town of Snaith. The township comprised 8,970 acres and included East and West Cowick and the hamlets of Newbridge and Greenland. Cowick and Snaith had a Peculiar jurisdiction, known as The Soke, Bailiwick and Liberty of Cowick and Snaith, and this extended over several neighbouring places. The Hall was the seat of the Viscount Downe, the Lord and Chief Bailiff, and there was an independent meeting-house in Cowick.

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Cowick as a township-chapelry in Snaith parish, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, on the Dutch river and the Goole canal, adjacent to the Goole railway, 1½ mile SE of Snaith. It included the hamlet of East Cowick, which had a post office under Selby; also the hamlets of West Cowick, Greenland, and Newbridge. It covered 5,725 acres, with a population of 849 housed within 199 dwellings. Cowick Hall was the seat of Viscount Downe and the living was a vicarage in the diocese of York. The value was £160, under the patronage of Viscount Downe. There was an Independent chapel, and charities amounting to £21.

Snaith and Cowick is now a civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, covering an area of approximately 5,946 acres. According to the 2011 UK census, Snaith and Cowick had a population of 3,579, an increase on the 2001 census figure of 3,028. The parish was part of the Goole Rural District in the West Riding of Yorkshire from 1894 to 1974, then in Boothferry district of Humberside until 1996.

Industry

West Cowick was the site of an important medieval pottery industry. In 1322, three potters worked on the site and by 1373 they numbered seven. The industry remained important into the second quarter of the sixteenth century after which it fell into decline.

Agriculture and market gardening were important industries in the village during the 18th and 19th centuries, with Acts for enclosure of land being passed in 1754 and 1781. In 1867 John and Thomas Hartley, brewers, were operating at Cowick, with The Crown brewery being built around 1888. Although the building is still standing, it is now, sadly, abandoned, most brewery equipment having being removed after brewing ceased around 1959.

The number of inns in the village fluctuated throughout the 19th century, the longest-established being The Ship Inn, first mentioned in a directory of 1822. Other inns were The Bay Horse (listed in Trade Directories of 1838, 1849 and 1893), The Fox and Duck (1893), The Grapes (1838) and The William IV (1838).

Transport Links

Throughout its history, the area has been well-served by transport links, comprising road, rail, river and canal. Early trade was carried out via the River Don until, in 1628, the drainage engineer Cornelius Vermuyden diverted the river northwards, to join the River Aire. The work was part of the drainage of Hatfield Chase, and the river skirted the eastern edge of the village to join the Aire at Turnbridge. A "Great Sluice" was constructed where the rivers joined, which included a navigable lock. Following flooding of the villages bordering the new route, a 5 mile channel was constructed from Newbridge near Thorne eastwards to Goole, where water levels in the River Ouse were between 5 and 10 feet lower than at Turnbridge. The channel was called the Dutch River, and was not intended to be navigable, so boats continued to use the lock at Turnbridge, until the sluice at Goole was swept away by floods in 1688. As boats started to use the Dutch River, the channel through East Cowick gradually silted up. A Grade II listed bridge now carries the road over the site of the stream and the parish boundary follows the course of the Don from the A1041 to the Aire at the eastern border of East Cowick.

At the request of Lord Downe, the 19th century Knottingly to Goole canal by-passed the area, as he wished to keep the canal as far away as possible from his mansion in Cowick Park! However, in 1898 a new cut was made from the Aire and Calder Canal, near Cowick, to the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation, thus increasing trading possibilities along this route. This new cutting was named The New Junction Canal.

(References: Life in the Past Around Snaith, Snaith Historical Society, 1988; http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-164955-crown-brewery-warehouse-and-brewery-rang; http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/25428; http://www.goole-on-the-web.org.uk/main.php?key=697; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snaith_and_Cowick; http://parishroots.co.uk/2011/04/21/cowick-yorkshire-universal-british-directory-1791/; http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/WRY/Snaith/EastCowickHistory.html; http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50901&strquery=cowick#s5)