Watton (St. Mary)

WATTON (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Driffield, Bainton-Beacon division of the wapentake of Harthill, E. riding of York, 5½ miles (S.) from Great Driffield; containing 329 inhabitants. A nunnery of the Sempringham order, in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was founded here in 1150, upon the site of a more ancient priory, which existed in the year 686: at the Dissolution, its revenue was valued at £453. 7. 8., and its buildings, which are still considerable, were granted to the Earl of Warwick. The parish lies west of the river Hull, and comprises 4277 acres of fertile land, of which 3190 are arable, 1069 pasture, and 18 woodland, all tithe-free. A considerable portion of the parish, known as Watton Carr, was formerly a morass, with a decoy in the centre; it was reclaimed by drainage, and is now sound and useful land. A great part of the soil belongs to Richard Bethell, Esq., whose family were long seated at Walton Abbey, a brick mansion in the Tudor style, with octagonal turrets, stone dressings and buttresses, and fine gardens attached; it is now, by permission of Mr. Bethell, the residence of the incumbent. The village is situated on the banks of a rivulet, and on the road between Driffield and Beverley. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £60; patron, Mr. Bethell. The church is a neat edifice, with a tower at the west end, and contains some mural tablets to the Bethell and Dickinson families.