Argam

Argam
Civil parish (defunct)
Argam village site
Argam Location within the East Riding of Yorkshire
Population	34 (1931 Census) [1]
OS grid reference	TA113713
Civil parish	Grindale
Unitary authority	East Riding of Yorkshire
Ceremonial county	East Riding of Yorkshire
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
List of places UK England Yorkshire 54°07′30″N0°17′56″W / 54.125°N 0.299°W / 54.125; -0.299

Argam, or Argham (sometimes Ergam, or Ergham), was a village and civil parish, now in the parish of Grindale, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The site is listed in many historical documents, but was deserted by the early 19th century. The village was depopulated, becoming one of the known deserted Medieval villages in Yorkshire.

History

Argam is mentioned in the Domesday Book as being part of the Hundred or Torbar. Torbar was later joined with the hundreds of Burton and Huntou to form the wapentake of Dickering. ^{[2] [3]} The parish was bisected along a north-east/south-west axis by Argham Dykes (or Ergham Dykes), a Bronze Age earthwork that extends from Reighton in the north-east, to Rudston in the south west. ^[4] The dyke, which was historically called the Argham Cursus , is now a scheduled monument. ^{[5] [6]} The dyke is believed to be pre-Roman, however in 1869, some Roman coins were unearthed from the dyke inside a mole-hill, which led to some assuming a Roman-built dyke. ^[7] Pitt Rivers argues that if you stand on the dyke at Argam, "the whole of the wide extent of country which presents itself to the eye from this point, the whole of the ground appears as if it had been scooped out by nature for the defence of an army facing inland and westwards...." ^[8]

The parish was listed as having a church (dedicated to St John the Baptist), which was still extant in 1318 according to an ecclesiastical tax record of the Diocese of York. ^[9] In 1115, Walter de Gant, granted some land in the parish, and all the chapels of Hunmanby, to the order at Bardney Abbey. ^[10] However, like the village, the church building has been demolished, but the font, described as a "rough bowl", was moved into the Church of St Nicholas in Grindale. ^{[11] [12]} Whilst the location of the village can be identified from the outlines of the building walls in the ground, the exact location of the church is undetermined. ^[13] Because the village of Argam had a church, the name of the area persisted beyond the destruction of the dwellings. Other lost Medieval settlements, lost their village or parish names if they did not have a church. ^[14] The rights of the clergy in the parish were known to have been severely curtailed by 1632, by which time, no buildings existed in Argam village. The Archbishop of York left the decision of whether to hold religious services in the parish or not, to the incumbent vicar. One did exercise this right, preaching an open-air sermon on the site of the village in 1743. ^[15]

Historically, the parish, and village or Argam, led to the surname Ergome, such as John of Ergome, who was a renowned scholar and Augustinian friar who studied at Bologna. Ergome came from a distinguished East Riding family. ^[16] The parish and village have been recorded as being Ergone, Ergum, Erghum, Herghum, Ereghom, and Arholme. The name derives from Old Norse meaning At the shielings . ^{[17] [18]} Argam covered approximately 500 acres (200 ha), being some 5.5 miles (8.9 km) north-west of Bridlington, near to the old road from Bridlington to Malton. ^[19] The village was de-populated by end of the Middle Ages, possibly for sheep-farming, which was the main use of the area listed in the Domesday Book. Argam village does not appear in taxation records after the 15th century. ^{[note 1] [10]} Between 1801 and 1901, the population, which was scattered across the remaining homesteads in the parish, remained static numbering between 20 and 40 people. ^{[21] [22]} The census of 1901 details 40 people living in the parish (which had also grown to an area of 559 acres (226 ha)). The 40 people living in the parish were distributed across only six households or dwellings. ^{[23] [24]} On 1 April 1935, the parish was dissolved, and the area subsumed into the parish of Grindale, which still exists as an area in the East Riding of Yorkshire. ^[25] The last population census of the parish was conducted in 1931, and recorded 34 people. ^[1]

The remains of the village can be found at two grid coordinates: TA112710 ^[26] and TA113713 . ^[27]

Notes

1. The land in and around Argam was owned by the order at Bardney Abbey. A document from 1632 of Latin inscription declares the land abandoned. ^[20]

References

1. "Administrative unit Argam AP/CP/Ch Parish-level Unit". visionofbritain.org.uk. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
2. "Argam | Domesday Book". opendomesday.org. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
3. Allison 1974, p. 3.
4. "Argham Dikes". www.heritagegateway.org.uk. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
5. "Genuki: REIGHTON PARISH: Reighton Parish Records Introduction, Yorkshire (East Riding)". www.genuki.org.uk. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
6. Historic England. "Argam dykes (1005234)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 13 October 2022.
7. Bulmer, T (1892). History, topography, and directory of East Yorkshire (with Hull), comprising its ancient and modern history a general view of its phyiscal features. Preston: Bulmer. p. 101. OCLC   907283886.
8. Rivers, Pitt (1882). "On Excavations in the Earthwork Called Dane's Dyke at Flamborough in October, 1879; and on the Earthworks of the Yorkshire Wolds". The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 11: 456. doi:10.2307/2841777. JSTOR   2841777.
9. Beresford 1963, p. 313.
10. Allison 1974, p. 7.
11. "Genuki: ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY Yorkshire (East Riding)". www.genuki.org.uk. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
12. Pevsner, Nikolaus (2005) [1972]. Yorkshire : York and the East Riding (2 ed.). London: Yale University Press. p. 447. ISBN   0300095937.
13. "Argam". www.heritagegateway.org.uk. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
14. Beresford, Maurice; Hurst, J., eds. (1971). Deserted medieval villages: studies;. London: Lutterworth Press. p. 52. ISBN   0718813731.
15. Allison 1974, p. 8.
16. Curley, Michael J. (23 September 2004). "John of Bridlington [St John of Bridlington, John Thwing]". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/14856.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
17. Smith, A. H. (1970) [1937]. Place-names of East Riding of Yorkshire and York. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 108. ISBN   0-521-04907-5.
18. Ekwall, Eilert (1960). The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names (4 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 12. ISBN   0-19-869103-3.
19. Lewis, Samuel (1848). A topographical dictionary of England : comprising the several counties, cities, boroughs, corporate and market towns, parishes, and townships. London: Lewis. p. 70. OCLC   1157940821.
20. Beresford 1963, p. 99.
21. Allison, K. J. (1976). The East Riding of Yorkshire landscape. London: Hodder & Stoughton. plate 14. ISBN   0340158212.
22. Allison 1974, p. 6.
23. Beresford 1963, p. 330.
24. Page, William, ed. (1907). The Victoria history of the county of York. vol 3. London: Constable & Co. p. 488. OCLC   500092527.
25. "Bridlington Registration District". www.ukbmd.org.uk. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
26. Beresford, Maurice; Hurst, J., eds. (1971). Deserted medieval villages: studies;. London: Lutterworth Press. p. 207. ISBN   0718813731.
27. Beresford 1963, p. 393.

Sources

• Allison, K. J., ed. (1974). A history of the county of York, East Riding, Volume II. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN   0-19-722738-4.
• Beresford, Maurice Warwick (1963) [1954]. The lost villages of England. London: Lutterworth Press. OCLC   1194441244.

External links

• Aerial image of the deserted village