One interesting aspect of the parish plan of Sculcoates dated 1691 (see above and s.p.b.) is the field pattern, the rectangular fields evidencing enclosure. As this was prior to the onset of Parliamentary Enclosure the parish land must have been enclosed by private agreement. In other parishes where this happened in north Lincs. and in the East Riding this was an ongoing piecemeal process over generations, the variety of field sizes and the fact that most fields are named except for a central block of fields between Beverley Road and the River Hull where little or no information is recorded suggesting that this may have been the case here.
Field names are a study in themselves, sadly mostly lost in the 21st century. Field names centuries ago were common knowledge in the locality even though knowledge of how their often curious names came about might have been lost in the mists of time. Names recorded here (some are indistinguishable) clockwise from the north-west corner are; Great Pasture, Great Ings, Little Ings, Cowes Close, West Field (on the east side of the parish!), Green Fields, Trippett, (something) Gate Close (corresponding to the North Gate in Hull’s town walls), Little House, Great House Close, Great Apeland and West Apeland.
On the other side of the River Hull’s meander to the church is written (something) Manor House. I am not sure if Sculcoates Manor had the same boundary as the parish (if I had at home a copy of the Victoria County History, Vol. 1 would be able to check). Assuming the plan to be accurate this would place the site of the Manor House somewhere near the junction of Wincolmlee and Fountain Road today.
Trippett, in the south-east corner of the plan, lay immediately outside the north-east corner of Hull’s medieval town walls and once these had gone in the late 18th century became the site of St. Mary Lowgate’s detached burial ground.
(to be continued)