History of Pocklington
In 2017, a Celtic warrior's grave, dated to about BC 320 to 174, was discovered at a housing development under construction in Pocklington at the Yorkshire Wolds.
After archeologists had completed a very long excavation project, the site was found to include a bronze shield, remains of a chariot and the skeletons of ponies.
One design element on the extremely-well preserved Pocklington shield, a scalloped border, "is not comparable to any other Iron Age finds across Europe, adding to its valuable uniqueness", said Paula Ware, managing director at MAP Archaeological Practice Ltd in late 2019.
"The discoveries are set to widen our understanding of the Arras (Middle Iron Age) culture and the dating of artefacts to secure contexts is exceptional," according to Paula Ware.
Despite Pocklington's existing status and size at the time, York was favoured as the site of the Roman city Eboracum in around 71 AD.
By the time Ptolemy wrote his Geography in approximately 140 AD, he made no mention of Pocklington but instead referred to the capital of the Romano-British Parisi as being located in Petuaria, near modern-day Brough.
In 2004 diggers excavating the site near Pocklington unearthed fragments of a human skeleton which almost certainly dated back to Roman times.
It was some time before 650 AD that Pocklington gained its current name, meaning "farmstead belonging to Pocela's people".
[citation needed] It is likely that the missionary Paulinus established the first Christian church in Pocklington on his way from Goodmanham to found York Minster.
Certainly, the Sotheby Cross, dating from the late 14th century in the churchyard at All Saints' Church, has the inscription "Paulinus here preached and celebrated AD627".
The Great Heathen Army of the Vikings captured much of the area in 866, and, in 876, their remnants settled permanently in parts of the Yorkshire countryside.
In 954, the last Viking king, Eric Bloodaxe, was expelled, and his kingdom was incorporated in the newly consolidated Anglo-Saxon state.
Before the Norman Conquest, when King Harold's brother-in-law Earl Morcar was Lord of the Manor, it was a prosperous settlement.
Parish records show that the Black Death (the bubonic plague) struck Pocklington hard in 1350, a year after its first outbreak in London and the south coast.
Pocklington School was founded in 1514 as the Guild of the Parish Church by senior churchmen and politician John Dolman.
Over the next 150 years the town trebled in size with a host of new trades joining existing agricultural, brewing and milling interests.
And 19 years later the town's most notorious resident, Isabella Bilington, aged 32, was sentenced to death at York Assizes for crucifying her mother at Pocklington.
William Wilberforce wrote his first public letter against the slave trade while at Pocklington School from 1771 to 1776 and went on to be the driving force behind the abolition of slavery in the early 19th century.
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was a frequent visitor to Pocklington in the late 18th century, and is among several notable churchmen, bishops and titular archbishops, born or educated in the town.
There are besides corn mills, iron foundries, and agricultural implement manufactories which materially contribute to the industrial wealth of the town.
"[12] In 1890, extensive repairs and alterations were made to All Saints' Church and, in a foreshadowing of modern interest in "time capsules", a message detailing the work was sealed in a glass bottle along with an 1890 newspaper and buried underneath the plith of the medieval Sotheby Cross.
Those serving on HMS Volage also keep close ties with the town that adopted them during the war, sending letters and parcels.
The association with Pocklington continues with a new housing estate being named 'Volage Court' in recognition of the links with HMS Volage.
[17] In June 2020, the East Riding of Yorkshire Council submitted a request for funding to cover a feasibility study which would investigate reopening the line.
