Peaceful English Village on a Hot Summer Afternoon | LOCKINGTON, ENGLAND.
The pretty village of Lockington which is split along its length by a gurgling beck, is situated in a tranquil backwater just south of Driffield at the south-eastern extremity of the Yorkshire Wolds. The Bryan Mills Beck which runs through the village is 8 km long from the source to Bryan Mills Farm and is artificial and not a natural waterway.
The manor of Lockington is recorded in the Domesday Book as being divided between the Archbishop of York (who gave his portion into the care of St John’s Church, Beverley) and the Count of Mortain, the Conqueror’s half-brother. But the family which has been associated with the village for some 800 years – and continues to be so – is that of Hotham. The Hothams take their name from the village of Hotham, their original property, eight miles to the south-west, near Market Weighton. The family became major landowners throughout this corner of the East Riding, spreading their acreage eastwards from Hotham towards Beverley and arriving at Lockington at the beginning of the 13th century. Documents describe a law suit by the Hothams over manorial rights at Lockington in 1213.
The most famous member of this illustrious dynasty is Sir John Hotham, 1st Baronet, Governor of Hull in the days leading up to the English Civil War, who, on April 23, 1642, entered the history books as the man who refused his king, Charles 1, entry to the city. The king was forced to retire from the city gates, proclaiming Hotham a traitor.
At the end of the 17th century, the Hotham manor house at Scorborough burned down and the family purchased the nearby South Dalton estate. In 1797, Sir John Hotham’s descendant, Admiral William Hotham, was created 1st Baron Hotham. The 8th Baron Hotham still resides at South Dalton and the family retains large holdings around Lockington.
The Moyser monument inside St Mary's church is in honour of Mary Moyser who died in 1633. Her effigy lies on its side above small effigies of her children and beneath a lengthy oval inscription flanked by Corinthian columns: pediment with figures of Truth, Charity and Justice.
The walls are entirely lined with panelling: each of the 173 panels is painted with a coat of arms connected with the Estoft family. The whole south chapel was remodelled in 1634/5 as the Estoft family shrine.
Filmed on 26.06.2024