Toponymy The name Cottingham is believed to derive from an Old English man's name
Cot(t)a plus
-ingaham, meaning the "Homestead/village of Cott's/Cotta's people". Archaic spellings include
Cotingeham (Domesday, 1086), and
Cotingham,
Cottingham and
Cotyngham (1150s).
Medieval period The
pre-Conquest owner of Cottingham was Gamel, the son of Osbert, during the reign of
Edward the Confessor in the 11th century. After the
Norman Conquest of England the land was in the possession of
Hugh fitzBaldric. At this time, the
Domesday Book (1086) shows the Cottingham manor included a mill, five fisheries, woodland and farm land. The ownership of the manor passed to the
de Wake family through de Stuteville's granddaughter Joan, who married Hugh de Wake. In 1327 further licence to crenellate the castle was given to Thomas Wake. According to legend, the manor house at the castle was destroyed by its owner, in 1541, on account of a proposed visit by
Henry VIII; the owner, fearing the monarch's intentions towards his wife, sought to prevent the King's visit by ordering the
arson of his own home. To the north-west of the village there was a deer park, first recorded in the 13th century. The park was 4
leagues (12 miles) in circumference and located in the area now known as Cottingham Park, including Crowle Park and Burn Park; it is thought to have fallen out of use and been let for pasture by the 16th century.
Thomas de Cottingham,
Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England in 1349 and later
Master of the Rolls in Ireland, was born in Cottingham in about 1300 and died 1370. In 1319,
Thomas de Wake received a charter allowing Cottingham to have two annual fairs and a weekly market; By 1352, the lordship of Cottingham had passed from the
de Wake family through Thomas Wake's sister
Margaret Wake, who married
Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent (1301–1330) to
John, 3rd Earl of Kent (1330–1352). On John's death, the manor passed to Margaret's daughter
Joan of Kent ('The Fair Maid of Kent'), from whom the estate passed to
Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent, her eldest son (whose stepfather was
Edward the Black Prince). Nicholas de Luda (died 1382), a
capuchin friar, who built or re-built the chancel, is commemorated by a
monumental brass in the church. The church was designated a Grade I
listed building in 1967.
1500–1850 By 1661, the manor house of Southwood Hall had been built to the south-east of the village and is now designated a Grade II* listed building. A schoolhouse was established in the village by John Wardle in around 1666, near to the churchyard. Wardle also established an
almshouse adjacent to it, but died in 1668 before it was completed. In 1712, Mark Kirby left an endowment of land to support the school, renaming the school the Mark Kirby Free School. The church of Saint Mary had pinnacles added to the tower in the 18th century, which may have been strengthened in the same period, other additions included monuments to
Ralph Burton (died 1768) and William Burton of Hotham (died 1764). A Georgian villa, later known as 'Kingtree House' was built on King Street around 1750 by Hull merchant Samuel Watson. The gardens were noted by
Arthur Young on his tour of northern England ().
Snuff was manufactured in the south of the village in the 18th century; towards the end of the century a large mill owned by
Quaker William Travis was producing 15 hundredweight of snuff per week. William Travis had a three-storied house built in 1750 next to the mill. The road from Cottingham to Hull connected with the Hull to Beverley Road (turnpiked by the
Kingston-upon-Hull and Beverley Road Act 1743 (
17 Geo. 2. c. 25) of 1744) at
Newland toll bar; it was turnpiked as an extension of the Hull to Beverley Road by the
Kingston-upon-Hull and Beverley Road Act 1764 (
4 Geo. 3. c. 66). A road from Beverley to Hessle, connecting with the Cottingham to Newlands turnpike was turnpiked by the
Beverley to Hessle Ferry Turnpike Act 1769 (
9 Geo. 3. c. 79). William Travis also acquired land on Thwaite Street in the 1770s and by 1795 had built Cottingham Hall, one of the largest dwellings in the village; it joined other substantial houses including Cottingham House (built pre 1744); Newgate House (built ); Eastgate House (begun 1776); Westfield (1778); 'Green Wickets' (formerly 'Sycamores', built ); and Northgate House (later Northfields House, built 1780, extended in 1820). By the beginning of the 19th century it was noted as: The population of the village in 1792 was 1178 in 284 houses; in addition to being noted as a desirable place to live, the village was also noted as a centre of
market gardening, supplying Hull. within the village: Beech House on Northgate; and Thwaite House (built between 1803 and 1807). In 1814–6,
Thomas Thompson (1754–1828) had a large Gothic house built on high ground about west of Cottingham, having acquired of land in 1800; the house became known as
Cottingham Castle. The house burnt down in 1861, although a
folly tower is still extant. Thompson also paid for the reconstruction and expansion of a
Wesleyan chapel in 1814,) and was instrumental in the establishment of land set aside for poor families; in 1819 the parish officers reserved of land, previously used to fund repairs for the church, for the use of twenty families. Originally named Pauper Village, it was renamed "New Village" in 1829. A chapel for the Independents (Zion Chapel) was established in 1819, replacing a pre-1800 Presbyterian building. The chapel is now designated a Grade II* listed building and an adjoining 1802
minister's house is Grade II listed. A
Primitive Methodist chapel was constructed in 1828. A new Methodist church was built in 1878/9. Elmtree House was built in the early 1800s for John Hebblewhite, Hull draper. By 1837, the population of Cottingham was nearly 2,500, with over 500 houses. The interior and exteriors of the Church of Saint Mary were restored and renovated in 1845 and 1892 respectively. Monuments to
Thomas Thompson (died 1828), and
Thomas Perronet Thompson were added in the 19th century. The rail network reached Cottingham in October 1846, with the opening of
Cottingham railway station and the
Hull and Bridlington Railway extension of the
Hull and Selby Railway. Cottingham station was built close to and east of the village centre. After the arrival of the railway housing development began for the middle classes of Hull; resulting in the construction of terraced and semi-detached villas.
1850 to present By the 1850s Cottingham was a substantial village, with housing along its main streets of Northgate, Hallgate, King Street, Newgate Street, South Street, and Thwaite Street. The
Provincial Gaslight and Coke Company was established in the 1850s, building a gasworks in the village, north of the railway station, at a cost of £3,258. The Cottingham gas undertaking was purchased by Hull Corporation in 1901, who switched to supply from their larger gasworks. During the 20th century the gas works site was used for a cloth mill, "Station Mills", owned by
Paley & Donkin who produced oil press cloths. Additional industry developed on the site north-west of the station, including a saw mill. the mill buildings are still extant, and in industrial/commercial use. Until 1857, nearby
Skidby was part of the parish of Cottingham. In 1875,
Charles Wilson acquired Thwaite House and extended it, converting it into a substantial mansion. By the 1870s the expansion of Hull was predicted to be such that additional water supply would be needed, and plans for extraction were made for two sites near Cottingham. In 1890 a pumping station ('Mill Dam pumping station') was opened north of the village centre, near Mill Dam stream; built to supply Kingston upon Hull with water from the
aquifer via three boreholes. the earliest recorded interment dates to 1889. In 1913–6 the development of
Castle Hill Hospital began, on the site of the former
Cottingham Castle house. the hospital was extended westwards between 1921 and 1939 with the addition of an infectious diseases hospital. The large houses Northfields House, Both Halls were substantially extended in the period after acquisition for university accommodation use. In 1951 the university created another hall of residence, 'Cleminson Hall' on grounds south of Thwaite Hall, the site was expanded for student accommodation in the 1960s. Cleminson Hall was closed in 2003/4, and the site sold, the site was redeveloped into a housing estate between 2009 and 2012. During the Second World War, a temporary camp (Harland Way Camp) was constructed near Cottingham Grange. Initially, it housed refugees, and it later became an army transit camp; the grange itself was used as officers quarters. The house was demolished by the 1950s and the site split between the new Cottingham Secondary school and
Hull University. Hull University built the
neo-Georgian block of
Ferens Hall in 1956/7 on the army camp site, and in 1963 construction of a large modernist pale-brown brick
halls of residence, designed by
Gillespie, Kidd & Coia known as
The Lawns began on the east side of the same site. Cottingham Secondary School (as of 2012
Cottingham High School) opened in 1955, with extension opened in the 1975/8, on the western side of the former Cottingham Grange site. The village became increasingly urbanised in the first half of the 20th century, particularly by terraced housing. Additionally the road to Hull was developed, with housing near continuous along it by the 1950s. During the interwar period the boundaries of Hull were expanded, taking in part of Cottingham; the North Hull Estate was constructed on the north-west fringe of the city in the 1930s, and by mid-century, only a narrow strip of green space separated Hull from Cottingham on its eastern boundary near 'New Village'. In the post-Second World War period, extensive urban development and expansion took place, in particular to the south of the village. In this period most of the development was of detached and semi-detached dwellings, often with front and rear gardens. By the mid-1950s Southwood Hall was surrounded by houses. Expansion continued in the later part of the 20th century: there was further housing built to the north of Northgate, as well as a large amount of housing expansion westwards towards Castle Hill Hospital. The development reached an effective maximum extent by the 1970s: in the decades following (up to 2010), a limited amount of extra housing stock was built, mostly infill developments within the urban limit of the 1970s. The
caravan manufacturing company Swift (see
Swift Leisure) moved from Hull to a factory north-east of Cottingham in 1970, the company expanded its facilities in the early 2000s, investing £6.8 million in a new factory. A new connection to the
A1079 road 'Beverley Bypass' was built for the upgraded factory development. In 2015 Swift began a expansion of their factory, with a further of covered storage. In 1981, the tradition of installing
Christmas lights was started by local traders, as a way of increasing trade and adding to the sense of community during the winter season.
Castle Hill Hospital was extended by the addition of an
oncology and
hematology unit in 2009, ''The Queen's Centre for Oncology and Haematology'', a
cardiac unit and additional cancer centre for teenage patients in 2011. In 1999, the reservoirs at Keldgate were added to with the installation of a water treatment works adjacent to the west; In the late 2000s, a large , 13,000 interment capacity cemetery named
Priory Woods Cemetery was built on Priory Road, on the southern fringes of the village for the use of
Hull City Council. The cemetery was opposed by
East Riding of Yorkshire Council, and by some local residents but was allowed on an appeal, and formally opened in May 2010. In 2014, planning permission was granted for up to 125 houses to the west of the village, south of Castle Road, at a site formerly used by
Twinacre Nurseries; the first houses were completed by late 2015. An adjacent site was also sought to be developed in the same period – an initial plan for up to 600 houses as part of a mixed use development (2013) was submitted by Hull and East Yorkshire NHS Trust but rejected; an amended and reduced plan for up to 180 dwellings between Willerby Low Road and Castle Road was submitted in 2014 and accepted. In 2016, planning permission was granted for a 320 home development on a site to the north-west of the village, south of Harland Way. ==Geography==