He who wishes to be called a good citizen, ought to love the very soil on which he has first stood, and the very sky whence he has first drawn his breath. Muretus. PREFACE. In issuing this History of the Parishes of Sherburn and Cawood, I am only too keenly confident of being accused of troubling the public with another of those incomplete topographical compilations which of late years have been given to them in such numbers. I admit that my little book is by no means exhaustive of its subject, but I claim some degree of consideration on the ground that I am the first to attempt anything like a history of either parish. I am not, however, the first who has written upon the subject. Dr. Whitaker, in his elaborate Loidis et Elmete, has given a very slight sketch of the history of Sherburn, and, with the exception of a few remarks in directories and works of that nature, nothing more has been said respecting it. Cawood has also been noticed scantily: firstly by Gent and Drake, and secondly by James Mountain, the historian of Selby, who has simply appropriated the few remarks they had gathered. The candid reader will therefore admit that my task has not been one of little difficulty, and when his eye rests upon any historical error, I entreat him to judge me with leniency. I can confidently claim to have introduced much that will be new to all except the most diligent antiquaries, and to have exhumed, as it were, from the grave-like depths of our national libraries, information which was not accessible to all from many circumstances. To those who would upbraid me with scantiness of materials I reply that I have used my best endeavours to gather all that lay within my reach, and therefore misfortune rather than culpability is the charge they must lay against me. To those who would point out the literary imperfections of the book I can only say that "I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me;" yet I hope at some future time to be able to retrieve that error fully and completely. As regards the plan of the book, it will be seen that I have not attempted to give the modern history of any of the places afterwards noticed. I have attempted to give, in a connected form, some descrip |