MILLINGTON PARISH.

Wapentake of Harthill (Wilton Beacon Division)—County Council Electoral Division of Huggate —Petty Sessional Division of Wilton Beacon—Poor Law Union and County Court District of Pocklington—Bural Deanery of Pocklington—Archdeaconry of the East Biding—Diocese of York.

This parish extends along a deep and narrow valley on the western side of the Wolds. The surface is undulating, and the soil of a varied character, chalky in some places and clayey in others. The subsoil is chalk. Wheat, barley, and turnips are the chief crops. The parish is comprised in one township, called Millington-with-Little Givendale, containing 2,509 acres. The rateable value is £1,995, and the population in 1891 was 193. The land is partly freehold and partly copyhold ; the manorial rights of the former are held by the Master, Fellows and Scholars of St. John's College, Cambridge; and those of the latter by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, to whom they were transferred from the Prebendary of Givendale ; but most of the land has been enfranchised. The other owners are J. Singleton, Esq., Givendale House; Thomas Fawcett, Brigshaw, near Leeds; and Francis William Rickell, Woodgate farm.

Millington is supposed by some antiquarians to be the Delqovicia of the Romans. Dr. Burton, author of the Monasticon Eboracense, strongly advocated its claims, whilst others have assigned the honour to Goodmanham, Londes-borough, and Market Weighton respectively. Remains have been discovered here which prove that, if it be not the site of Delgovicia, it was at least occupied by the Romans. About half-a-mile north-east of the village were discovered, many years ago, the foundations of a circular building, 45 feet in diameter, supposed to have been the temple of Diana, Roman pavements, tiles, coins, and various other relics of antiquity. There are traces of a strong camp, which has been defended by immense outworks from 60 to 90 feet in height, carried indiscriminately over hills and valleys to Garrowby Hill.

The village of Millington is small, and stands about three miles north-east from Pocklington, which is the nearest railway station. Its name is a relic of Saxon clanship—the ton or town of the Millings, a Saxon clan that has also left its impress at Millington in Cheshire. The church, of which the dedication is unknown, is an ancient building of stone, containing a few traces of Norman architecture. It consists of chancel, nave, south porch, and small western tower, containing two bells. The tower is a modern addition of brick, and the porch is also brick and modern, but the inner doorway is a fine specimen of Norman work. The building was restored in 1884, at an expense of about £500. The reredos, representing the Crucifixion, was presented by Mr. George Hudson, in memory of his wife, the daughter of the Eev. W. E. Griesbach, formerly vicar of this parish. In the nave is a stained glass window, erected by David Wilson Barker, in memory of his wife, Elizabeth Barker, daughter of the Rev. Henry Ellershaw, formerly vicar of the parish. There is a monument to the Rev. Edmund Holmes, who was for 46 years incumbent of Millington-cum-Givendale, and another to John Wilkin-son, Esq., who was sheriff of York in 1798, and Lord Mayor in 1801. The benefice comprises the united vicarages of Millington and Great Givendale, joint yearly value £200, derived chiefly from 209 acres of glebe, in the gift of the Archbishop of York, and held by the Eev. Baldwin Eyre Wake, M.A., of Trinity College, Oxford. "The great tithes of the township of Millington were commuted at the inclosure, in 1870, for 280 acres of land, and two money payments of £30 17s. and £11; these last belong to the vicar."