4th December, 2017. Humberside large period houses, some conclusions.

Before going onto four houses on the south bank of the Humber Estuary need to draw a few parallels from those already covered from East Yorkshire.

Almost all of those covered so far were built/rebuilt/enlarged in the 18th century in the then fashionable neo-classical style (Georgian architectural style), at great cost (presumably) to the landed families of the day.

Many were built on the site of an earlier manor house, with little more than a passing reference to these one assumes that they might well have been timber-framed, thatch and possibly wattle and daub walling – no listed building preservation lists then! Sometimes part, or whole, villages were ‘removed’ also, certainly to make way for the ’emparking’.

Most of these Georgian period houses were complimented by ’emparked’ grounds, this again being the fashion of the day by which relatively small areas of formal gardens were replaced by expansive man-made ‘naturalistic’ landscapes, much admired today where they have survived. However a lot of this landscaping has been abandoned to the pressures of modern agribusiness, during the Second World War and since 1960s.

Surprising number of landed East Riding families clung-on to the Roman Catholic faith with chapel, altar, even priest holes incorporated into the internal arrangement. Liable to recusancy fines in the late Tudor era (particularly if out of favour at court) and anti-Parliamentary fines during the Civil Wars (1642-1651) and the Commonwealth and Protectorate of the 1650s these landed families survived and prospered in an era of some relaxation of anti-Catholic fervour. Although the detailed history of each landed family would have been different it is surprising that so much wealth could have been lavished on the ‘Georgianization’ of the landscape of both Holderness and the Yorkshire Wolds.

Most reflect the rise of brick as the basic building material.

(Above = reminder image of Burton Constable Hall).