Papers of the Ringrose Family of Cottingham

The legal and estate papers of the Ringrose family of Cottingham were deposited in Hull University Archives in 1984. There are no personal papers in the collection which comprises almost solely of surrenders and admissions in the manorial courts of Cottingham, title documents and a large number of wills, almost all of them regarding land and other types of property in Cottingham in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Apart from the Ringrose family papers the collection contains abstracts of the title for George Knowlsey, Ann Earnshaw, John Constable and H A Coventry as well as property papers for many Cottingham families, which include the Somerscales, Thompson, Knowsley, Codd, Wilson and Clarke families. There is also a bundle of papers relating to Ruth Stainton. There are two marriage settlements for Isaac Bayley and Frances Widdowson (1765) and Peter Birch and Elizabeth Normand (1815).

The following wills are in the collection: William Mantle (1776); Hannah Foster (1802); Thomas Bainton (1826); Robert Holiday (1827); Thomas Robinson (1868); William Hardy (1773); Christopher Thrisk or Thirsk (1767); David Chisholm (1852); John Meek (1788); George Knowsley (1805); William Turner (1798); William Smith (1837); William Archbutt (1846); Mary Dunling (1866); Elizabeth Hardy (1773); Frances Bayley nee Widdowson (1767); Isaac Bayley (1786); John Lofthouse (1855); Mathias Shepherd (1832); Joseph Summers (1859); Harriet Huntington (1828); Mary Ann Huntington (1838); Berry Mantle (1843); Jeremiah Kirk (1810); John Riseam (1827); Jane Wawn (1851); Samuel Codd (1843) and John Ringrose (1874).

Several branches of the Ringrose family existed in Hull and the East Riding from at least the early seventeenth century and some members of the family joined the Hull merchant fraternity, owning several properties in High street including Lion House from the early nineteenth century. The association of one branch of the family both with Cottingham and its Independent chapel dates back at least to the seventeenth century as the first registered birth for the chapel was that of Hannah Ringrose in 1692 (Smith, Zion, p.6; Allison, History of Yorkshire, passim; Sheahan, History of Hull, pp.399, 400, 402).

The papers in the collection largely relate to the estates of the Cottingham branch of the family in the nineteenth century. By the last quarter of the century they owned Cottingham Grange, as well as land in Newland, Harland, Rise, Cold Harbour and Spring Park farms. The old site of the medieval castle in Cottingham (Baynard castle) had been divided into four manors; Cottingham Powis, Cottingham Westmorland, Cottingham Richmond and Cottingham Sarum. The only manor house to survive into the nineteenth century was the Sarum manor house and the Ringrose family held this from 1870 to 1931. However, there are papers in the collection relating to all four manors on the old castle site. In 1865 the family owned as much as 1200 acres in Cottingham, though this had dropped to 570 acres in 1907 (Allison, History of Yorkshire, iv, pp.70, 75).

The family maintained its strong links with congregationalism in the village. Samuel Ringrose (d.1841) is buried in Zion chapel and left a bequest of £200 in his will for the upkeep of the poor. His sister Sarah made good this bequest when she died in 1852 and as late as 1975, when combined with the bequests of the Thompson family, it provided Christmas presents for 22 people in Cottingham. This role of benefactor was one continued by John Ringrose (d.circa 1876), possibly his son. Most of the papers in the collection relate to the property of John Ringrose and his heirs, Charles John Ringrose and Jeffry Wyatville Ringrose (Allison, History of Yorkshire, iv, pp.82, 84; Stamp, Last of the Cottingham essays, p.176).

U DCM/1 Cottingham 1678-1899

U DCM/2 Various Townships 1808-1855

U DCM/3 Miscellaneous 1695-1863

U DCM/4 Wills 1776-1868

Access will be granted to any accredited reader

Entry in Landed family and estate archives subject guide

Deposited in 1984

U DSJ/96 (pedigree) & U DDGE/5/6-7

• Allison, K J, Victoria county history of Yorkshire: East Riding (1969-1979)
• Sheahan, J J, History of the town and port of Kingston upon Hull (1866)
• Smith, E B, Zion: a history of the United Reformed Church Cottingham 1692-1992 (1992)
• Stamp, A H, Last of the Cottingham essays (1993)